Changes in the Earth
by elvishmockingbird
Summary: SEQUEL TO A NEW APPRENTICE: The team investigates a mysterious connection between Terra, Ron's powers, and a strange darkness. Team Go's interest in Starfire and the appearance of a figure from his past cause Robin to worry about the future of the Titans. As she prepares for college, Kim begins to question her role as a hero. Set mostly post-KP series, starts during KP's Graduation
1. Graduation Part 1

**(A/N: I'M BACK GUYS! I know it's been a while. This is the long-awaited sequel to "A New Apprentice", and it's going to be pretty awesome. Before you start, a couple things. First, I don't know how often I'll be able to update with my current schedule. Just know that if I go a long time without publishing, I have not forgotten about this fic and I intend to see it through to the end. Second, while a few details are still being worked out in my head, I have a feeling this one is going to be on a bigger scale and with higher stakes than the last one. But that also means it will probably be a lot longer, so your patience is appreciated. Finally, the plot takes place during Kim and Ron's summer after graduation, so I thought it would make sense to start the story by showing what exactly the Titans were doing during the Lorwardian invasion on Graduation Day, which I'll cover in the first two chapters. So, without further ado...)**

"It's tonight? Dude, why didn't you tell me?" Beast Boy said into his phone with frustration. "I totally would have come. This is your graduation, Tara, it's a big deal!" He stood up from his bed and began pacing the room as he listened to Tara's explanation. "Uh-huh…okay…yeah, but…fine. You win. But can we at least hang out tomorrow? Or sometime this week? Yeah, I know it's far away, but…oh, you have to get ready? Sorry, go ahead. Talk to you later then. Congrats, Tara."

The green teenager sighed as he hung up the phone and shoved it back into the pocket of his purple suit. "Why is everything so complicated?" he muttered. Glancing at the alarm clock by his bed, he noticed the time. The _Clash of the Planets_ marathon would be on in fifteen minutes. He shrugged and opened the door to the hallway. Maybe the walk to the common room would clear his head.

BB walked down the long, empty hallway, thinking through his recent conversation. Suddenly, a strange sound took him out of his thoughts. It sounded like someone groaning loudly, as if in pain. Looking around, Beast Boy realized that he was in front of Raven's door. He hesitated. In his experience, disturbing Raven while she was in her room was never a good idea. She needed alone time and hated being interrupted. But on the other hand, he was sure he had heard something. He stood in front of the door, trying to decide whether or not to knock.

Thankfully, the decision was made for him when Raven suddenly opened the door herself, making the other Titan jump back in surprise. "Beast Boy?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" Her voice sounded tired, and although Beast Boy could barely see her eyes under her hood, they seemed tired as well.

"I was…um…just heading over to watch _Clash of the Planets_ ," he stammered, really hoping she was in a good mood. "Are you…uh…?"

"I'm fine," she quickly snapped. Then, she paused and explained less coldly, "I had a weird dream, then woke up with a headache. That's all. I just need some tea and meditation time. It's nothing."

Beast Boy scratched his head. "You sure? You sounded pretty…"

"Nothing," she repeated.

"Okay, okay, geez. Just trying to be nice. Hey, I'm heading over now, do you want to walk over together?"

Raven sighed, "Sure. But I'm not watching your dumb show."

BB shrugged. "Your loss."

The two teammates continued their journey to the common room. As they rounded a corner, Raven asked, "How's Tara?"

Beast Boy froze. "Tara? Um, she's…she's uh…she's good."

Raven rolled her eyes, then looked at him. "I can sense emotions, Beast Boy. Also, even if I couldn't, you haven't cracked a joke in the past two minutes. I know when something's up."

Beast Boy knew Raven was right. He also knew that his relationship with Tara was not Raven's business. "Look, you wouldn't tell me what's bothering you, so I don't have to talk about Tara. Okay?"

"Not the same."

"Totally is." The two of them started walking again. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Beast Boy gave in. "She didn't invite me to her graduation. Didn't even tell me when it was. I called to ask if we could hang out this weekend and she told me she was getting ready for the graduation ceremony and couldn't talk. But, dude, who does that? We've been together for a few months, you'd think she'd at least tell me the day, right? Or am I crazy?" He waited for a response. "Rae?"

"Jury's still out on whether you're crazy," Raven said. Her voice was so deadpan that Beast Boy was unsure whether to take that statement as a joke. "But I understand. That sucks."

"Yeah it does. We'll work it out, though. I just need some _Clash of the Planets_ to cheer myself up."

"You do that," Raven nodded as they entered to common room and parted ways. She headed toward the kitchen, while Beast Boy took a seat on the couch beside Cyborg, who had already arrived.

"Yo, grass stain!" Cyborg greeted as he moved the giant bowl of popcorn from his lap to the space between them. "You ready?"

"Dude, I was born ready," Beast Boy replied, shoving a fistful of popcorn into his green mouth. "Think Robin and Star are coming?"

"Nah, they're training. Well," he added with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows, "at least that's what they said."

Beast Boy laughed. "Sure, dude. Whatever you say. Probably for the best that they're not here. Starfire's awesome, but I could do without her critique of the factual accuracy of _Clash of the Planets_. Remember last time she watched with us, when she started explaining why a humanoid species would never survive on a planet like Drobadan?"

"Agreed. Some things are sacred."

Cyborg reached for the remote and turned on the large television screen in front of them. He rapidly flipped through each channel until he found the one with a countdown clock surrounded by shooting stars and spaceships. "All right, it's almost time," he said loudly, getting Raven's attention as she poured her tea. "Y'all ready?"

Raven finished pouring, looked at the screen for a moment, then replied simply, "No."

Beast Boy joined the countdown to the marathon. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

The countdown clock disappeared, but before it could transition into the first episode, the whole screen was interrupted by gray static. Its grating sound covered all audio as well.

"Ugh, Raven, did you do something?" BB asked, exasperated.

Raven arched an eyebrow, equally as surprised as her teammates. "I did not."

For a moment, the screen returned to the opening scrolling text of _Clash of the Planets_. Then, it returned to static again. After another brief return, it disconnected again. "Dude," Beast Boy said, turning to Cyborg, "it's your TV. Did you change something?"

"No," Cy said, a puzzled look on his face, "but I can check. Gimme a second." He stood up and began walking toward the wall where the television was plugged in.

Meanwhile, Starfire and Robin were unaware of the TV signal fiasco. They were in the training room, which functioned mostly as a small gym. Robin and Cyborg were the main Titans who used it, but Starfire had become more interested in perfecting her hand-to-hand combat since her encounter with Shego and Slade. Even though she knew she was very unlikely to lose her powers again, it felt good to be able to defend herself without relying on them entirely. Plus, the opportunity to spend time with Robin was always appreciated, even if it was to study fighting styles.

"Do not go the easy on me," Starfire said as she ducked under the swipe of Robin's bo staff.

"Why would I do that?" Robin asked with a smirk, striking again.

This time, Star caught his blow with her own staff and shoved him back. He used his weapon to vault to her side and swiped low to knock her off balance. She jumped backward instead, spinning her staff in front of her as she landed.

"Are you attempting to 'sweep me off of my legs'?" she retorted with a laugh.

"Close enough." He dodged her spinning staff and struck at her shoulder. She blocked him and pushed him back. He retaliated with three rapid strikes, which she dodged swiftly, then countered with her own weapon. The two continued in this manner, evenly matched, until their staffs finally caught each other. As each pushed against the other, their faces drew closer and closer…

"Batman!" Starfire shouted.

"What?" Robin loosened his grip just enough for Starfire to knock his bo staff out of his hands and push him down to the floor at the end of her own.

"Apologies, friend," she said, "but you said that it is necessary to expect the unexpected."

Robin sighed. "I guess I did. You win."

Starfire set down both staffs and helped Robin to his feet. "You are a most excellent opponent," she told him, her orange cheeks slightly blushing.

"You too," he said, smiling sweetly. Feeling awkward, he quickly added, "But don't expect every villain we fight to have a history with Batman. That strategy doesn't work with everyone."

"But was that not the second lesson, after the expecting of the unexpected?" Starfire reminded him. "You said to know the enemy."

"Oh. So I did. You should be teaching me, Star." Robin picked up his bo staff, spun it around in his hand, then held it still. "Seriously, you're an amazing fighter. Plus, you've got all your super powers. You don't need my help."

"I do if I wish to learn to fight with the bo staff or the boomerang," Starfire insisted. "Also, we have created many new partner moves for the battles since training together."

"We have," Robin agreed with a nod. "That's what teamwork is about. Relying on each other. Working as partners. Like us." _More than just as teammates_ , he mentally added.

Starfire picked up her staff from the ground, looked at it thoughtfully, then asked, "Why do you never speak of him? He was your teammate as well, was he not?"

"Who?"

"Batman."

"Oh. Well, we're not really on the same team anymore." Robin looked around the room, trying to think of any reason to change the subject. Finally, he thought of something. "By the way, I finally got a hold of Jericho."

Starfire worked through the expression slowly, "Got the hold of…oh, you mean that you have had the communication with him."

"Exactly."

She gave him a funny look and crossed her arms. "Did you not begin attempting the contact several months in the past?"

"Yeah, I did," he answered with a shrug. He reached for a towel to wipe the sweat off his brow as he continued, "Jericho's very hard to pin down. Er, I mean…" he tried to think of a phrase his girlfriend would better understand, "he's just…he travels a lot, and when he stops traveling, it's always somewhere really remote. He even goes totally off the grid periodically. That's not to say anything against him as a Titan, of course," he clarified quickly. "Jericho's a great teammate, he's just kind of…eccentric, I guess."

"Ah, I see," Star nodded, her arms dropping to her sides. "And what did Jericho say to you?"

Robin set down his towel. "Just that he'd be happy to have me over and answer my questions. Truth is, I'm not completely sure what to ask. All I know is, it would be one heck of a coincidence for Slade's password to be the same as an honorary Titan's name if there's no connection between them."

"That is reasonable," Starfire agreed.

Before they could discuss the matter further, the lights on the ceiling flickered, then went out. Robin walked to the light switch and flicked it up and down. Nothing happened. "Huh," he said, turning to face Star. "Power outage?"

Suddenly, Robin and Starfire felt the ground shake as a loud crashing noise sounded through the wall. "Whoa!" Robin reacted, regaining his balance. "What was that?"

Starfire immediately opened her Titans communicator. The signal was covered in heavy static. "We are under attack," she said gravely. "Come on!" She grabbed Robin's hand and pulled him out of the room before he could ask any questions.

As Starfire sprinted across the Tower, a flashing red light streamed in through the windows facing the city, filling the darkened, powerless building with its intermittent color. "Lorwardians," she told her boyfriend, as if that was a sufficient enough explanation. "They have landed in the city. We must inform the others."

"Lor-what?"

Coming from the opposite direction of the red flashing hallway, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy nearly ran into the other two Titans in their hurry. "We were just looking for y'all," Cyborg explained. "The TV stopped working, then lights and the communicator went out. I think the red light is coming from the city, but I don't know…"

"I do, friend," Starfire interrupted. "You must all come up to the roof. I will provide the explanation."

Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven exchanged confused looks, then followed Starfire up the ladder to the roof of Titans Tower. Turning toward downtown, the team could see several giant metal structures. They had long, metal legs and red flashing tops, which contrasted sinisterly against the gray, cloudy sky. Most of them appeared to stay still, but a few were moving, stabbing their legs effortlessly through the roofs of any buildings in their paths.

"Holy crap," Beast Boy breathed.

"What are they?" asked Raven.

"Lorwardian drones," Starfire replied, her gaze still fixed on the machines. "The Lorwardians have attempted to conquer Tamaran before, although it has been the long time since their last effort. They come from the planet of Lorwardia, not far from my home system. They would not send so many drones for a small purpose. This is a full planetary invasion."

"Hold on," Cyborg stopped her. "What do you mean, invasion?"

Starfire finally looked away from the destruction and faced the rest of her team. "The Lorwardian warriors treat the conquering of other planets as a game. They keep the time of each conquering to attempt to do it faster in the next one." She glanced over her shoulder again at the red flashing robots, then stated sharply, as if giving instructions, "We must act quickly, for the drones will destroy anyone who does not fall perfectly into the line. We must also attempt to make the contact with as many honorary Titans as can access the signal. The invasions by the Lorwardians cover the whole planet at the same time. The drones will be spread across the earth. They are controlled by the captain of the ship that is closest to the planet, but individual ones may be taken down by…apologies, is something wrong?" She was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that the entire team was staring at her in a way usually reserved for Robin.

The Teen Wonder stepped forward and put a comforting hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Go ahead, Star. You lead. How do we take them out?"

She blinked, then replied nervously, "But, I do not usually lead the team. I do not know if I have the qualifications."

"You're literally the only person qualified to lead us against the Lorwardians," Robin pointed out.

"Yeah, Star," Beast Boy agreed. "Tell us how to kick their butts."

"We got your back," Cyborg affirmed.

Starfire took a deep breath. While she had occasionally led the rest of the team on missions, she had never been given full leadership of an operation of this scale. It wasn't because she lacked any particular leadership qualities, of course. It was merely because Robin was a much more natural leader. But now, her team, her family, was depending on her. The whole planet was depending on her. She stepped toward the others, drawing them into a tight circle so that their heads nearly touched.

"Titans," she said, trying to sound a little bit tougher than usual, though her tone was still mostly gentle and sweet. "We are fortunate that the drones have not yet been alerted to our presence. They are programmed to concentrate inside the areas with the high numbers of people. The drones are controlled by a single Lorwardian, but until the controller is found, they may be destroyed as the individuals. The weakest spot of the drones is the legs. If the balance is lost, the drone falls and can do nothing. The direct hit to the center of the head can also cause the destruction, but it is much more difficult. Robin, I ask you to come with me to the west side of the city. We can attempt to fight them into the water and away from the citizens."

"Got it," Robin nodded obediently.

"Raven and Beast Boy," Star continued. "Friends, I wish for you to go to the east side of the city. Take down as many of the drones as you are capable, but the priority is to relocate the citizens to the safe places."

"Where is that?" Raven asked.

"Underground," Starfire answered immediately. After under a minute of leadership, she was already beginning to feel more comfortable with it. Besides, it felt good for her familiarity with planets other than Earth to be an asset for once. "The drones are too large to travel inside of the sewers, or any underground structure. If there is not enough of the space, Titans Tower is the strongest building in the city. The people will be away from the sensors of the drones for the little while at least. Cyborg?"

"Yup?"

"I wish for you to join us in the battle, but not until you have first reactivated the communicator signals. Then, attempt to contact as many honorary Titans as are capable of answering the calls and inform them of the situation and the strategy. The Lorwardians always block out the power during the invasions, but there may be a way to restore it off of the grid."

"Already brainstorming," Cy replied.

"That is most excellent, friend. You must also attempt to locate the ship of the Lorwardians. It is most definitely within the orbit of this planet, but its exact location may be far from us. When you find it, we must prepare to form the attack upon it. And then…um…" looking around at her teammates' faces, Starfire became aware that she had no idea what to say next. She looked to Robin hopefully.

His masked eyes locked with hers. "Go on, Star," he said with full confidence. "Say it."

Starfire looked down at the floor, then back up at the faces surrounding her. It was her turn to say those two special words. "Titans Go!"


	2. Graduation Part 2

**(A/N: I'm back! Bet you thought I forgot all about this story, haha, but I didn't! I was going to make this chapter a lot longer, but this seemed long enough, so it turns out the battle against the Lorwardians will take up 3 chapters instead of just 2. But that's all right, there's still plenty of story to go after that. Thanks for your patience!)**

The R-Cycle zoomed out of the Tower, across the bridge, and into Jump City. Robin drove through the now empty streets at top speed, with Starfire holding on behind him. She probably could have arrived faster on her own, but this was a mission that would require teamwork.

"All right, Star," Robin said as they passed the city's new Bueno Nacho. "We'll be in range in a minute. I'm thinking I draw them out toward the bay on the R-Cycle while you attack from the air. How does that sound?"

"Splendid," she replied, "but be very careful. The drones can cause much destruction."

"Don't worry," he assured her, his eyes locking on the tops of the drones visible in the distance. "I've been doing this for a while."

Robin turned sharply and found himself in the path of one of the drones. It was crawling slowly down the street, as if making sure no humans were outside. "It doesn't know we're in its path," Robin observed. "Not yet, anyway."

"Then what is our move?" Starfire asked.

"You tell me, Star. You know how to take these things out. I trust you."

Had they not been speeding toward a giant alien robot, Starfire would have made a comment about feeling touched. However, there were other priorities at the moment, so instead she looked up, analyzed the situation quickly, and told Robin, "I will fly up and engage, you prepare to ride through, as we have practiced."

"Move 12, then. Got it."

Starfire let go of her boyfriend and rose up into the air. She shot four bright green energy bolts from her eyes, lighting off several explosions on the ground in front of the drone. The drone, now alerted to her presence, straightened up to its full height and began moving toward her. Starfire's two fists glowed bright green and she sped through the air in the drone's direction. The machine lifted its sharp, strong leg in an attempt to pin her down, but she met it head on with starbolts ready. The resulting scene was a rapid combination of punches and dodges on the part of Starfire, as the drone repeatedly tried to back her into a corner while also reeling from each strike. She flew closer to the ground and caught the drone's leg in her hands as it aimed to squash her. As she pushed back against it, Robin drove the R-Cycle under the preoccupied drone, scattering black discs behind him as he passed by.

"Starfire!" he shouted.

Hearing his signal, Starfire stopped holding back and shoved the metal leg back, then sped through the air toward the drone, passing under its top piece at high speed. Focused on the alien girl, the drone stomped after her, tearing up the asphalt of the street in its way. Starfire caught up with Robin. He skidded to a halt and she landed lightly beside him. Following their trap, the drone took one more step toward them…

BOOM!

Robin's explosives detonated under each metal leg, and the drone crumbled into a heap of parts on the street. Robin looked at Starfire. "You know, I think I'm becoming a fan of Move 12."

Starfire laughed for a brief moment, but stopped as another drone caught her eye. It had sensed their battle and was coming closer very quickly. Immediately, she reached for the giant metal head of the first drone, lifted it up effortlessly, and threw it with all her strength at the new one. It crashed into the front two legs of the second drone, knocking it off its balance. Star followed up the initial attack by flying directly toward the new drone, throwing starbolts at the front two legs to add to the damage. "Move 3!" she shouted as she flew over Robin's head.

Dang, I love that alien princess, he thought as he started up the R-Cycle's engine and began driving toward the new drone.

On the other side of town, Raven floated through the air on a circle of black energy and landed on the sidewalk. Beast Boy flew ahead of her in the shape of a pterodactyl, scouting out the area. Raven shut her eyes, feeling the emotions and energy around her. Fear. Lots of fear. She opened her eyes, looking for people. Dust swirled through the air, coming off of several piles of debris on the street. Beast Boy landed on the ground beside Raven and straightened up into his human shape. "The drones took down a building one block up," he said. "I think most of the people got out in time, but now they're trying to hide. They can't run into the street without the drones seeing them, though."

"If the drones see them, they're toast," Raven observed.

"Yeah. They're pretty freaked out. I think there's a sewer entrance nearby, though. We can try to get them underground…dude, look out!"

A drone's long, sharp metal leg smashed onto the street only a few feet ahead of them. Raven pulled up a shield of black energy to block the flying chunks of asphalt coming in their direction. The drone took another step forward, clearly aiming for the two teens. Both of them jumped away in opposite directions. Beast Boy transformed into a t-rex and lunged for the nearest leg. He bit into it, trying to break through, but it was too thick, even for dinosaur teeth. He let go and shapeshifted into a bat, flying away from the giant robot. The drone chased after him down the street. As rapid as his bat wings moved, Beast Boy could only fly so fast. Raven focused her energy on the gigantic moving drone, stretched out her hand, and said her magic words, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

The drone turned black and froze, then was slowly lifted into the air. Its skyscraper height towered high in the air over the nearby buildings, covered in Raven's dark energy. Beast Boy returned to his normal shape and looked up at it, then shouted, "Rae, what are you doing? That thing is huge!"

"Saving you, you idiot," she replied, her eyes glowing white and her hand still outstretched. "I can handle this, go get people into the sewers before I lose focus!"

Obediently, Beast Boy shapeshifted into a cheetah and sprinted away until he found a large manhole in the sidewalk. It was large enough in diameter for at least two people to climb in at once, and the team had used it before while tracking Slade underground. What is it with bad guys and sewers? Beast Boy wondered.

Morphing into a gorilla, Beast Boy pulled the lid off the manhole with his strong, green arms. Returning to human form, he looked around for people and spotted a kid in the entrance to a nearby alley. He looked around for drones, then waved the kid over. Terrified, the little boy inched toward him, followed by a few other children who had been hiding with him. "It's okay," BB whispered encouragingly. "Trust me, the bad drones can't get you in here. They won't see you. Plus, my friend has them handled. It's all gonna be okay…"

As Beast Boy led the children underground, Raven held her gaze tightly on the floating drone. She had levitated larger objects before countless times, and she was sure she could keep this one up at least long enough for Beast Boy to get the nearest citizens to safety. Suddenly, with no warning, she felt a sharp pain in her body. She cringed in response, which made her drop the drone back on the ground.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, holding her head with one hand.

"Raven," a voice whispered, too softly for her to identify its source.

"Huh? Beast Boy?" she looked around, but couldn't see him. Everything around her was dark and empty, and the air felt heavy. "Beast Boy!" she called out again. She felt pain again, shut her eyes, and reopened them, finding herself back on the street of Jump City, only moments before a sharp, metal drone leg would have pinned her to the ground. She sprang backward, swiping her arm to create a forcefield of energy in front of her. But the alien machine sensed that Raven was now on defense and chased after her, while she narrowly dodged and blocked each attempt that pushed her back into the side streets.

Back in Titans Tower, Cyborg connected one final wire in the communication center. After a moment of anticipation, five red dots on the Jump City map began to glow, as did Cy's arm. "Booyah!" he exclaimed before activating his screen and saying, "Calling all Titans! Can you hear me?"

Robin and Starfire slowed their fight to open their communicators. Beast Boy flipped his open as the last of the group of kids dove underground. "Cyborg!" the green Titans exclaimed. "You did it!"

"Psh, did y'all think I wouldn't?" the half-robot teen said through the newly reconnected communication system.

"What about the honorary Titans?" Robin asked, his voice and image present on all four open communicators. "We need them to fight the drones too. They're all over the world, right, Star?"

"Indeed," Starfire replied.

"Still working on that," Cy explained. "It's a lot easier to connect y'all because you're so close to the Tower and each other, but I've got a little more work to do to reach the other signals. I think Jinx and Kid Flash are in the area, so I can probably get them next…huh, what's that?"

"What is what?" Starfire asked.

"Someone's sending us a signal. Looks like it's from pretty far away. I don't know how they're doing it, but I'm transmitting to y'all's communicators. And…go!"

At first, the communicator screens buzzed with static. Then, a familiar freckled face appeared. "Yes! I knew it would work! Well…you know, kinda knew. Space is weird, dudes."

"Ron?!" all four connected Titans exclaimed in unison, despite being in very different locations.

"Wade hacked in through the Kepler's transmitter thingy…I think," Ron Stoppable explained. "Thought we should check in, seeing how there are literally aliens taking over the world. You guys okay down there?"

"Um…sort of?" Robin replied, not entirely sure what to make of this situation. "We're fighting the drones in Jump City, but we still haven't reconnected with the rest of the honorary Titans. Is that a…space suit?"

Ron looked down at his outfit. "Oh yeah, um, about that…Kim kinda got lost in space…"

"WHAT?!" the team once again exclaimed in unison.

"But we're getting her back!" Ron quickly assured them. "We stole her dad's rocket, and we know she's on the Lorwardian ship, so this shouldn't be too hard from here…"

"You stole Dr. Possible's Kepler?" Cyborg repeated, stunned. "How?"

"And if you're not with Kim, who is 'we'?" Beast Boy added.

Ron grinned sheepishly. "Same answer to both questions," he said, tilting the camera to reveal the green-skinned woman sitting next to him.

"Hey, whoa," Shego interrupted, blocking her face with her hand. "What did I say about not talking to the driver?"

This time, the Titans were too stunned to say anything, together or otherwise.

Finally, Starfire broke the silence. "Shego!" she said excitedly, clapping her hands as best she could without dropping the communicator. "I have been wondering what things you have been doing of late, friend! Are you attempting to rescue Kim Possible and save the world?"

"Say the word 'friend' again and I'm turning this ship around," Shego snapped. "Drakken's up there too, FYI. Plus I happen to live on this planet. Not everything is about saving Kimmie."

Starfire turned to Robin with a smirk. "I told you she was capable of being the hero…"

"I heard that," Shego retorted, "and I don't want to hear it again. Just go punch some robots in the face or something, jeez."

"Heh, yeah, I don't think she wants to talk," Ron said with a shrug, returning the camera to its original position facing him. "Any of you heroes got any tips about fighting aliens? No offense, Starfire. Actually, is the word 'alien' offensive, or just normal to you? I've always sort of wondered that…"

"I feel no offense," Starfire replied. "In answer to the question, the Lorwardian captain will be controlling the drones from a device located on his belt. When he is defeated, all of the drones will cease the attacks."

"Sweet. Now we just need to find a way in…"

"Maybe look for a garbage chute?" Beast Boy suggested.

"Agreed. All ships of Lorwardia contain an exterior garbage disposal system," Starfire confirmed.

"Oh, wow," BB reacted, surprised. "I was just throwing that out there."

Ron leaned out of the camera's view for a second, then returned. "Shego says that's the dumbest thing she's ever heard," he said.

"Well, forget what Shego says," Robin replied. "Starfire knows what she's talking about, and we have robots to fight. Hey…where's Raven? Why isn't she on this call?"

Cyborg checked the screen in front of him. "Her communicator is functioning. She must not be picking up. Wasn't she with you, Beast Boy?"

Beast Boy's eyes widened. "Dude! You're right! She's probably fine, but I'll go find her. Signing off, dudes!" He shut his communicator, ending his end of the conversation.

An explosion went off within Robin's and Starfire's earshot as one drone crashed through a power line in its search for the heroes. "That's our cue," Robin said. "Good luck up there, Ron!"

"X'hal be with you both!" Starfire added before they both signed off and sped away in the direction of the explosion.

Back in Titans Tower, Cyborg had a few more things to say. "Yo, Ron, you know how y'all are able to transmit to our communicators?"

"Kinda," the blonde teenager replied. "Wade did something to strengthen the signal, but I think it's because we're outside the zone being messed up by whatever the aliens are doing. You know, 'cause space."

"But you can pick up our transmissions too," Cy continued. "It's gonna take a long time for me to reconnect each honorary Titan from here with the Lorwardians blocking our signals, but if I can somehow transmit a message through your signal, we might get the word out to them in time. Think you can help me?"

"I mean, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing up here…"

"I've been in ships like the Kepler before. It shouldn't take too long, and I think it's worth a shot. Just follow my instructions. Can you do that?"

"Sure thing, Cy."

"Booyah! First, look for a small, black button under the camera…"

As Ron carefully obeyed Cy's directions, Beast Boy sprinted through the empty street in cheetah form, searching for Raven. When he reached the spot where he had left her, he switched back to his human shape and called out in all directions, "Rae! Raven! Where are you?" He shifted into a bloodhound shape and sniffed around the area, trying to pick up her scent. After finally catching it, he followed it for a couple blocks before stopping to look up and around for any sign of Raven. Seeing none, he again returned to human form, cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted, "Raven!"

As if in response to his call, one of the drones suddenly came into view, tearing up the sidewalk as it hurried toward him. However, Beast Boy quickly realized that he wasn't the drone's target. Raven flew close to the ground, her cloak flowing around her until she finally landed right in front of Beast Boy. She stretched out her hands, shouted, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" and once again froze the giant robot in midair. Then, she threw it to the ground and transformed into her soul self. The dark shape glided into the immobilized drone, destroying each circuit and wire inside until it was nothing but a pile of metal pieces releasing sporadic sparks. Raven finally rematerialized on the street, collapsing to her knees with a gasp.

Beast Boy ran over to her. "Raven! Are you okay?"

Raven's exhausted eyes turned toward him. "I told you I had it handled!" she exclaimed in what Beast Boy thought was a surprisingly angry tone.

"Whoa, geez, I'm just trying to help you," he said, backing off. "What happened back there?"

Raven stood up slowly. Every muscle of her body ached, and her head felt like it was spinning. "Nothing," she responded. "I'm fine."

Beast Boy shook his head. "No, Rae, you're not. You have to take break."

"A break? Are you nuts?" Raven snapped. Again, Beast Boy was surprised at the strength of her usually deadpan reaction. "I've fought monsters bigger than these before and won. The team needs me. How could you suggest I sit this one out?"

"Exactly," Beast Boy replied gently, still confused about how he managed to be the calm one in this situation. "You're not yourself. Ron and Shego are taking down the alien ship right now, and once they do, they'll have Kim and Dr. Drakken helping them out. Well, really I guess Kim is the useful one. But still, we'll be okay. If you go back to the Tower, you can help Cyborg connect with the honorary Titans."

"I'm not myself? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you're acting weird. I mean, you're always a little weird, but this is weird even for you. And there was all the stuff earlier with your headache and weird dream. Maybe you need to…"

"I don't need to do anything!" she shouted. She placed her hands on BB's shoulders and shoved him backwards. He landed on his back on the pavement.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, though he was more shocked by her attitude than the pain itself.

Suddenly, a change came over Raven. Her jaw dropped and she froze for a moment, then knelt down to Beast Boy's level. "I'm so sorry, I have no idea what just happened," she said quietly. "I swear I didn't mean to do that, Beast Boy…"

"Yeah, yeah, I forgive you," he said, cutting her off suddenly, "but we need to run. Like, now!"

Rae spun around and spotted another drone coming toward them from the nearest cross street. She spread out her cloak and encircled both of them in a swirl of darkness until they reappeared inside a dark, empty building. Beast Boy looked around at the bleachers on either side of the wooden floor. "Are we in a high school gym?" he asked, feeling a bit disoriented from the short supernatural trip.

"Murakami High School's gym, yes," she answered, her deadpan tone returning. "It was the closest place I could find where we wouldn't be instantly crushed." She looked him over quickly, then said, "I'm going to need you to be completely honest with me, okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No, not really."

"Really? Because I have about thirty seconds to heal you before I head back out there, so you better be sure."

"Dude, the only I'm sure about is that you shouldn't be fighting right now," Beast Boy argued, pushing himself to his feet. "The last thing the team needs is someone who's not in…" he stopped himself and tried to choose his next words carefully, "who's not…um…"

"Not in control?" Raven guessed. Although she no longer sounded angry, she certainly did not sound pleased.

"Yeah, but not like that!" Beast Boy insisted. He knew this was delicate territory with Raven. She had pushed herself extremely hard to gain independence and control over her powers. "I don't mean you've lost control. I just mean you should sit this one out until we know what's going on with you, you know?"

"I know." Raven stood up and looked Beast Boy in the eyes. "But you guys need all hands on deck right now. We can figure it out after the battle's over. If Team Possible's on it, it shouldn't be too much longer."

"Raven—"

Beast Boy's argument was cut off by a crashing sound outside. The building shook as a drone's leg grazed its outer wall, knocking over trees in the school's outdoor lunch area. "I thought you said we wouldn't be crushed in here!" he exclaimed.

"I said we wouldn't be crushed immediately," Raven corrected him.

"Oh. That makes more sense. Duck!"

He shapeshifted into a duck and flew straight into Raven, pushing her a couple feet back as a sharp robot leg crashed through the roof of the gym, tearing up half of the far wall in the process. Raven pushed the duck aside and formed a large black disc, then separated it into multiple sharp, pointed shapes and threw them forcefully at the drone, slicing up its outer metal layer and knocking it off its balance, releasing sparks of electricity as it wobbled back and forth. Instantly, Raven felt another sharp pain in her body. She back away until she was sitting on the bleachers, clutching her side. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered, trying not to reveal the fear and confusion she was feeling.

Again, she was suddenly surrounded by darkness. "Raven," a voice whispered.

She looked around and saw nothing but emptiness. "Who are you?"

Silence for a few seconds. Then, another whisper. "Family."

Raven wasn't convinced. "Nice try. My mother is dead and my father was cast out of this world. My only family are my friends, and they're not here. So who are you, really?"

A soft laugh echoed in the dark, empty space surrounding her. Then silence again.

Raven had had enough. She straightened up and released a bright energy mass out from her soul, illuminating the darkness with a flash. "Who are you?" she shouted.

The darkness faded away to once again reveal the gym. Or, rather, the roof of the gym, partially blocked by Beast Boy's face. "Yo, Rae, get up!" he said.

Raven was on her back, lying on the gym floor while alien drones forced their way through the wall. "Wha-what happened?" she asked, sitting up.

"You started staring at nothing, then fell onto the floor really suddenly. But that's not important right now because there's a freaking drone in here!"

The moment BB pointed it out, the drone's second leg smashed through the wooden bleachers. Raven held up a black circle of energy to shield the two of them from the splinters, trying to ignore the sharp pain in her head. As the drone stepped toward them again, it broke through another level of bleachers. This time, Raven and Beast Boy heard a girl's voice shout in reaction.

"Ahh!" the high-pitched voice exclaimed.

"Someone's trapped under the bleachers," Raven realized aloud.

She and Beast Boy didn't waste a moment. Saving people was their job, after all. They ran across the room to the origin of the shout. Raven turned toward the robot and expanded her shield to cover the hole in the bleachers with a dark bubble of protection. Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla and reached a strong, hairy arm inside, feeling around in the dark for whoever was trapped.

"Hurry, Beast Boy," Raven muttered, wincing as the pain grew. "I don't know what's happening, but I don't want to lose focus…"

Beast Boy finally caught an arm, then a torso. He pulled the attached body out with a triumphant gorilla grunt. Out tumbled a small, blonde girl in a school uniform. She looked up, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and looked around.

"Holy crap, what is happening?" she asked, her eyes wide and her posture visibly uneasy.

Beast Boy returned to human form, then looked at the girl. He recognized her instantly and gasped. "TERRA?!" he exclaimed in a mix of relief, confusion, and alarm.

"What?" the girl tried to explain. "No, I told you I'm not…"

"Rae, we found Terra!"

"What?!" This discovery was the final distraction needed to break Raven's focus. The shield shattered just as the drone's metal leg crashed against it. Raven flew into the air to dodge it, then looked down at the two other teens. She definitely needed an explanation, but there wasn't time right now. She pointed to the nearest door and yelled a single word, "Run!"


	3. Graduation Part 3

Cyborg stared intently at the computer screen in front of him. The green progress bar was almost full. "Come on, come on," he muttered, tapping his metal finger anxiously. "Just get that message through."

"Connecting to Kepler signal. Connection complete." The green bar reached its target as the Tower's system synced up with the spacecraft flying high above them.

"Booyah!" Cy shouted. He plugged a cord into his arm connecting his microphone to the computer, then spoke quickly and clearly, "This is Cyborg calling all Titans! The planet is under attack by drones controlled by aliens from the planet Lorwardia. We have a plan to take out the ship controlling them, so do not panic. I repeat, do not panic. Your orders are to keep damage to a minimum and protect the civilians. The drones will attack areas with high population density first. They have two weak spots: the legs and the top. If you can take out the legs, they will lose balance and deactivate. A strong enough direct hit to the center of the top piece should have the same effect. Your signals most likely will not work normally until the ship is destroyed, so do not expect further communication soon. Cyborg signing off." He paused, thought for a moment, then leaned in and added enthusiastically, "Titans go!"

The audio message uploaded into the computer automatically. The system then beamed it into the air, through the atmosphere, and into the Kepler rocket's receptors. Outside the area of the Lorwardian ship's control, the Kepler ran the message through its computer system quickly, then transmitted it down to hundreds of Titans communicators on Earth. One by one, each honorary Titan paused their running, hiding, watching, swimming, blasting, punching, kicking, or flying to play the message. Each successful reception appeared as a green check mark on the Kepler's and the Tower's screens.

"We did it!" Ron exclaimed. He held up his hand for a high-five, but since the only other person in the rocket was Shego, he only got an annoyed look.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Cyborg celebrated. He activated the sonic cannon in his arm with a grin. "Now let's do this."

Across town, Robin sped down the street at the highest speed his motorcycle was capable of. Behind him trailed a badly battered drone. It had taken many hits from Starfire, but was still mostly functional, if a bit slower. Robin kept going straight as the road widened, leading it toward the bridge. Checking his rearview mirrors, he could see that the robot was gaining on him. It stretched out its front leg and would have hit the R-Cycle, but Robin swerved sharply out of the way at the last moment. Seeing the wall of a nearby shop coming closer too soon to dodge, he jumped off his motorcycle and rolled out of the way as it crashed into the storefront. He removed his helmet and looked up from the ground at the damage. "I'm going to pay for that," he reminded himself before standing up from the rubble and looking up at the giant metal monster looming over him.

"Backed up against a wall, huh? Guess you've got me cornered. Go ahead, strike." The drone stabbed its leg down into the spot where Robin was standing with enough force to skewer him, but instead of being skewered he nimbly backflipped out of the way, bounced off the wall behind him, and grabbed onto the robot leg with the assistance of two sharpened birdarangs, one in each hand. Before the drone could shake him off, Robin climbed up the leg until he reached its halfway point. He reached into the wires connecting the top and bottom parts of the leg and sliced through them with a birdarang, releasing sparks, then stuck it deep inside, blocking movement. He then leaped up, shot out his grappling hook, and swung around until all the drone's legs were caught tightly in its cord. Robin landed on his feet and leaned back, pulling the cord taught as the drone tried to move. Even with a cord as strong as his tying its legs, Robin knew there was no way he could pull it down alone.

Just in time, Starfire flew down from the sky, her glowing fist outstretched before her. She hit the drone with enough force to knock it over, then pulled Robin into the air with her just before it would have fallen on him. The drone crashed to the ground and she set him down at a relatively safe distance. Starfire placed her hands gently on his shoulders. "Are you injured?" she asked.

Robin shrugged. "No, Star, I'm all right." He peered over at the wrecked shop wall. "Can't say the same for the R-Cycle, though."

Suddenly, a large, white car zoomed up the torn-up street and skidded to a halt beside them. Cyborg leaned his head out the window. "Yo, looks like you need a new ride!" he exclaimed, pointing out the remains of the R-Cycle with his thumb.

"Cyborg!" both teens exclaimed joyfully.

"It is glorious to see you, friend!" Starfire smiled. A small but audible explosion went off one block away as a drone crushed its way through a building. Without a change in tone, Starfire added, "I wish I could speak with you more, but we must do the catching up later." She flew up into the sky and soared over to prevent further destruction, leaving Robin on the ground.

"Robin, you can stare at your girl later," Cy chided him. "Now get in here and help me kick some alien robot butt." He popped open the T-Car's passenger door and Robin climbed inside.

On the other side of town, Beast Boy, Raven, and the girl from under the bleachers darted across the high school's campus, trying to avoid being seen by the drones. "I can't believe it's you, Terra," Beast Boy said between pants as he ran. "You will not believe…"

"I already told you, I'm not Terra," she said, cutting him off.

"What were you doing under the bleachers?" Raven asked.

"I had to clean the gum off the bleachers for detention, and when I saw those…things through the window, I thought I'd make myself as invisible as possible and hide down there." She paused for a moment, then added with a suspicious look toward Raven, "And what's it to you?"

Instead of responded, Raven held out her hand and created a dark circular portal in the middle of the classroom wall rapidly approaching them. The three teens ran straight through it and ended up inside the classroom, then through another one in the next wall and found themselves outside the building, facing the parking lot. They looked up and saw the nearest drone moving slowly in their direction.

"I don't think it can see us," Beast Boy noted. "It would be coming a lot faster if it knew where we were."

"Well in that case," the blonde girl said, "thanks for getting me out of the gym and all, but we'll probably be better off separating so it doesn't find us all at once. See ya!"

She started to run toward the chain-linked fence surrounding the parking lot, but Beast Boy caught her arm first. "But Terra! We need to talk!"

"Stop calling me that!" she shouted, jerking his hand off her arm.

"Then what am I supposed to call you?"

"Um, maybe my name?"

"Which is?"

"Leila. See? It doesn't even sound like Terra. Now leave me alone!"

The girl ran off much faster this time. Beast Boy wanted to chase after her, but before he could take so much as a step in her direction, he heard Raven's voice shouting, "Beast Boy, look out!"

He looked up just in time to see the drone's leg coming down rapidly over his head. Instinctively, he transformed into a turtle and hid in his shell, bracing for impact. When none came, he looked up again to see a black disc of energy hovering over him, blocking the drone's leg from coming any further down. He turned into a cheetah and raced out of the way. Turning his head, he saw Raven let go of the dark forcefield. Then, with her eyes growing bright white, she reached up and turned the entire fence behind them black with her energy, then tore it out of the ground in one piece. She lifted her arms up and cried out, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" as she made a throwing motion in the direction of the drone. Following her direction, the fence wound itself around the drone's legs, tightening so closely and forcefully that it could no longer move in any direction. Raven gritted her teeth and focused all her mind and soul into the fence, pulling it tighter and tighter until it finally crumpled the drone's legs in on themselves, sending the machine tumbling down into the parking lot, deactivated.

Instantly, she felt pain in every part of her body. It was like a thick darkness was clinging to her, weighing her down, and pulling her apart all at once. She gasped and clutched her stomach, trying to stabilize herself. "No," she whispered, trying to fight through it. "No, no, not now…augh!" With a final groan, she collapsed onto the pavement of the school parking lot.

Beast Boy, human again, sprinted to her side. "Raven! Raven, are you okay? Talk to me!"

She blinked her eyes, trying hard to keep them open as the pain made her wince. "Dark. It's too dark," she mumbled. "It hurts."

"Oh dude," Beast Boy said, looking around for someone, anyone else to help. It was just him. "Oh dude, this is bad. This is really bad. Do you need something? What do I do?"

"There's something," Raven breathed, "something inside me. It's in my mind. I don't…I don't understand…"

"Like your dad?" BB suggested, trying to brainstorm answers. "You know, like that one time me and Cyborg went inside your brain and saw…"

"No, no, it's different," she said. The pain was still there, but it had decreased to the point that she could speak more clearly and keep her eyes open. "It feels similar in some ways, but it isn't the same. I don't know…I don't know what…I don't know why…"

"Okay, okay," Beast Boy said, trying to calm her down. He had a feeling that literally any other Titan would be better at handling this situation than him, but he didn't really have a choice. "Just breathe, all right? We'll figure it out. But you definitely can't fight right now. I'm taking you back to the Tower. Can you move?"

Raven lifted her head. "Kind of. Not a lot."

"Okay…guess we're going with Plan B then." He knelt down on all fours beside her and bent his head down. "Put your arms around my neck, and when I say go, shift all your weight over to my back. Got it?"

Too desperate to question the plan, Raven nodded. She reached out her arms and placed them around Beast Boy's neck and shoulders.

"One, two, three…go!"

She leaned over onto him and in seconds found herself seated on the back of a large, green horse. Raven straightened up and clasped onto his mane. "You could have just told me you were going to turn into a horse, Mr. Dramatic," she said, her sarcastic tone beginning to come back even though her voice still sounded tired and it took all her strength not to fall over. Beast Boy snorted in response, then began to trot carefully out of the parking lot.

Back in the T-Car, Cyborg drove as fast as he could while still dodging broken drone parts and the craters left by them. "And that's how we got the message out to the other honorary Titans," he explained. "So the good news is, the moment Kim and Ron take down the Lorwardian leader, all these babies are going down and the signal will be back up. We just have to keep damage to a minimum until they do."

"I think we can handle that," Robin said from the passenger's seat. "Good work, Cy."

"Did y'all ever find out what happened to Raven?" Cyborg asked, swerving around a large piece of a deactivated drone.

"Not yet. Beast Boy says he's on it."

"Well if he doesn't update us soon, someone's gotta give him backup. It could be bad."

"Yeah. My thoughts exactly. Whoa! You see that? Left!"

Cyborg looked to his left and saw a drone towering very close to the city's largest desalination plant along the rocky edge of the bay. "If it bulldozes through the plant, we'll have a water shortage on our hands by tomorrow," Cy realized.

"We can stop it if we draw it out toward the water," Robin said, already working through the plan in his head. "But we can't take it down too close to the plant, or it could fall through the roof and damage it."

"That's true. So, how do y'all want to do this?"

Robin flipped open his communicator. "Robin calling Starfire. Come in, Starfire."

Star's face appeared on the screen. "Hello, boyfriend Robin! Are you and Cyborg in need of assistance?"

Cyborg chuckled at the word "boyfriend," but Robin remained calm. "We have to get that drone away from the desalination plant. I think it's time to try Move 23."

"Move 23?" Star repeated. "But we have never attempted it outside of the training and it is most difficult. Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. It's built for this exact situation."

There was a brief, silent pause on Starfire's end. "But what if you fall?"

"I won't," Robin said with complete confidence. "You'll catch me."

"Okay! Then let us kick the butt!"

Robin shut his communicator and returned it to its compartment on his utility belt. "All right, Cy," he directed, "what you need to do is drive right past the drone toward the water, and open the sun roof. If it starts coming too close, fire at its weak spots, but whatever you do, don't slow down."

"You got it, Robin." Cyborg made the necessary turn onto the street across from the drone's location and flipped the switch to open the T-Car's sun roof. As he put his metal foot down on the gas pedal, Robin reached up and pulled himself up onto the roof of the vehicle. The top of the T-Car was pretty smooth, so he braced himself against the edges of the sun roof to stay up. He watched the drone go from standing still, surveying the nearby area, to noticing the moving car and beginning to move toward them, away from the desalination plant. Robin pulled out his grappling hook, aimed it carefully, and shot it behind him until it hooked onto the top piece of the drone. He let go of the T-Car the moment it made contact, letting the momentum swing him up into the air toward the tall robot. Retracting the cord, he pulled himself up onto the top of the drone.

Robin felt the metal surface shake as a blast from the T-Car pushed it back. Quickly, he stabbed a birdarang into the drone, holding onto it to keep his balance as the machine swayed backward, then corrected itself and continued its pursuit of Cyborg. Once it had returned to its normal motion, Robin stood up and ran to the very top and center of the drone. Reaching into his utility belt, he pulled out three exploding discs. It would take an extremely strong force to take down the drone from the top, but they would help when the real power source arrived. He stuck them down together on the center, then opened his communicator. "Now!" he shouted before running to the edge of the drone's round top and jumping into the air.

He had barely left the surface when Starfire came flying down from above the clouds, two bright green starbolts in her hands. She landed a glowing punch with all her strength, triggering the bombs. Her starbolts multiplied their power to create an explosion large enough to propel Robin out over the bay. The strike overloaded the drone and deactivated it instantly, making it fall off the edge of the road and into the water below. Speeding through the resulting smoke clouds, Starfire darted away from the mainland and caught Robin mid-fall, moments before he would have hit the water. She flew him back up to where Cyborg had parked the T-Car after the drone's defeat and set him down on his feet.

"Told you you'd catch me," Robin teased, brushing himself off.

Cyborg leaned out of the T-Car and looked back at the rest of the city. "Y'all there's still at least ten of these drones out there."

"And we still do not know of friend Raven's whereabouts," Starfire added.

As if in response to Starfire's comment, a green shape emerged through the smoke. As it came closer, the three teen heroes realized it was a green horse, with a dark cloaked girl riding it. Beast Boy recognized his teammates and galloped toward them. Upon reaching their position, he transformed back into his human form, with Raven leaning on his shoulder for balance.

"Dudes, we got a situation," he said.

"What happened?" Robin asked, deeply concerned. "Raven, are you okay?"

"I don't know," she said. The ride over had given her a chance to rest and regain control of her senses, but she still felt some of the effects. "Something's wrong with my powers. I'm not sure what it is, but it's bad."

Cyborg nodded, listening. "You should head back to the Tower. We contacted the honorary Titans, plus Kim and Ron are taking down the alien ship. We can handle giving you a break."

Raven hesitated. "Are you absolutely sure? I don't want to abandon the team if you're still fighting the drones."

"We may not have need of assistance for an additional reason," Starfire said, floating up a few feet and pointing at horizon behind them. "Observe!"

The Titans turned around and saw all the remaining drones come crashing down at once. Not a single one was left standing. The teammates looked at each other for a moment, then realized what was going on.

"Kim and Ron!" Beast Boy said first, almost dropping Raven in his excitement. "They did it!"

"Glorious!" Starfire exclaimed, hugging Robin in celebration.

Instantly, all of their communicators began to beep. They opened them to find a familiar blonde teenager's face. "We totally just destroyed some crazy aliens, dudes!" Ron said, pulling Kim into the frame, her graduation gown in shreds from the fight.

"Great work, guys," Robin said.

"Honestly, Ron should get most of the credit," Kim insisted. "I was totally knocked out, an then he stepped up…like…monkey style."

"Monkey style?" Beast Boy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Raven let go of the green boy and asked, "Ron, did you just learn how to control your powers?"

"Um…kind of? I don't actually know. I think so."

Raven couldn't help but reveal a small smile of pride. "Glad to see loaning you my books paid off. Nice going, Ron."

"Thanks. You know, Dr. D and Shego helped to," he added. "That was, you know, weird, but it happened."

"Oh yes! I am glad to hear this news of friend Shego!" Starfire said, clapping her hands.

"But how did that happen?" Cyborg asked, curious. "How did any of this happen? The bad guys turning good, the aliens coming here, all those things behind you…are they plants?"

"Yep," Kim replied. "Look, we've got a graduation to finish, but we really need to catch up. Want to meet up next week?"

"I'm down for Bueno Nacho," Cy suggested.

"Oh yeah, Bueno Nacho is always the way to go," Ron agreed enthusiastically. "We can work it out later. I've got rocket boots on, and I am dying to walk the stage in them in front of Mr. Barkin."

"You do realize you can't walk the stage if you're flying, right?" Raven asked, her voice as deadpan as ever.

"Semantics, Rae. See you soon, Titans!"

Ron signed off, leaving the rest of the team to look around at each other and the damage surrounding them. "Well," Cyborg finally said after a long, silent pause, "we've definitely got some clean up to do, but seeing as we have to get Raven back to the Tower anyway…who wants some victory waffles?"

The mention of victory waffles was enough for the other Titans to pile into the T-Car in an instant. All were in a celebratory mood as Cyborg drove them carefully back to the Tower. All, that is, except for Raven, who silently meditated in the backseat, her brow furrowed and her eyes shut. In between cheers for waffles, Beast Boy looked over at her and noted this. He was puzzled and concerned, but knew better than to disturb Raven during her meditation. _I'll wait until after waffles,_ he decided. _After all, waffles always make things better._ With another uneasy look at Raven, he mentally added, _Usually_.

 **(A/N: And that's what was going on during KP's Graduation. Everything else in this story takes place after the end of the KP series. Hopefully I'll have more time to write during the summer. Thanks for sticking with me!)**


	4. Aftermath in Middleton

**(A/N: Hello again! I realize the last three chapters were a little light on Kim and Ron, so here's a chapter more focused on them. It just seemed unnecessary to write out what they were doing during the battle against the Lorwardians because if you wanted to see it, you could just watch the KP Graduation finale. From here on out, though, they'll be playing a much bigger part in the story. Enjoy!)**

Ron wiped down the last hamster cage in the aisle and looked around the pet section of Smarty Mart. It was pretty quiet today. Everyone else was probably busy either enjoying summer vacation or recovering from the near-alien invasion that had occurred almost a week ago. Ron would have been amazed by how quickly and easily Middleton had for the most part bounced back, if it didn't have such a long history of being attacked by basically every villain ever. Finished with the cage, he set down his cleaning supplies and, after double checking that he was alone, pulled a thick, leather-bound book out of his pocket. He flipped to a page near the middle and began to read silently. _To choose an effective mantra for meditation purposes, it is important to…_

"Stoppable!"

Ron snapped to attention and found himself face-to-face with Mr. Barkin. "H…hey Mr. B," he said nervously. "Nice day to not be ruled by alien overlords, am I right?"

Mr. Barkin was not amused. "Of all the ways I'd expect to catch you loafing around during work, reading is the last thing I would expect," he said gruffly, looking down at the book. "If you'd started doing that earlier, you might have graduated with a decent GPA."

"Okay, see now, that's just mean," Ron replied. He shut the book and walked out of the aisle, stepping around Barkin. "I did just manage to graduate high school and play a major part in stopping an alien invasion all in one night. I think I deserve a little slack here. Now, if the sight of me reading bothers you so much, I can always take it to the yard supplies aisle…hey!"

Mr. Barkin snatched the book out of Ron's hands with surprising dexterity. "What is this about anyway?" he asked, flipping through the pages. "Meditation…concentration…the mind…the soul…Stoppable, is this really yours?"

Ron looked on nervously. "No, it's a friend's. But it's, like, centuries old or something, so could you be careful?"

Barkin looked down at him intimidatingly, closed the book, and handed it back. "I don't need to concern myself with any of that lunacy, and neither do you. This is the twenty-first century, Stoppable. Now get back to work."

Ron took two steps backward, then checked his watch. "Ha! Would you look at that? My shift is over. See you next time, sir!" With that, he bolted across the store and through the automatic doors that led to the parking lot.

Kim Possible's purple car was waiting at the curb for him. As he slid into his seat, he remarked, "You know, I'm never going to get used to working with Barkin as a non-student. He has zero impact on my academic future anymore, and yet I still always feel like he's trying to fail me."

Rufus poked his head out of Ron's uniform pocket and squeaked, "Blech! Barkin!"

"That's just how he is, Ron," his girlfriend replied as she pulled out of the parking lot. "He's probably still getting used to not being able to fail you too." She glanced over at the book on Ron's lap and asked, "Is that one of Raven's?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah. I've had them for a while, so I should probably return them when we meet up, but after everything that happened last week, I thought I should give them another look first."

"You mean because of your Mystical Monkey Power? It seemed like you had it pretty figured out back there."

"Well, yes. And no. I don't know, KP, superpowers may sound badical, but they're confusing as heck." He paused briefly, then began to explain, "See, when you were in trouble, I did the whole monkey thing and it worked perfectly. But that was the first time I've ever been able to use it to that level. I think, and this is just a theory, but I think I was able to do it because you needed help. Because, you know, I love you."

"Love you too, Ron," Kim smiled as she turned onto her street.

"Aw," Rufus squeaked, making a heart shape with his tiny paws.

"Thanks, KP, but what happens when I need to save someone else?" Ron asked. "Someone who's not my girlfriend? Or what if I'm not saving anybody and just need to use my powers for some other reason? Or what if my theory's wrong and it has nothing to do with you?" He sighed and leaned his head on the back of his seat. "Honestly, I expected finally tapping into my Mystical Monkey Power stuff would give me answers, but now all I have is more questions."

"Hm…" Kim said thoughtfully, trying to come up with something helpful. "What about Sensei? He might have answers. He taught you basically everything you know about Mystical Monkey Power."

"Yeah right," Ron rolled his eyes. "Sensei only shows up once in a while to tell me something unnecessarily cryptically, then vanishes again until the next 'life lesson' or whatever. No disrespect to that dude, but he's not someone I'd go to for a straight answer, like, ever."

"That's a fair conclusion." Kim said, pulling into the Possible house's driveway to park. A drone had crashed straight through the roof on the night of graduation, but thankfully the family rocket scientist had access to some very cutting-edge technology that had made rebuilding the damaged parts of the house a cinch. "So, what about Raven's books? Are they helping you find answers?"

Ron shrugged. "I mean, they make sense, but they're mostly about focusing on your center and meditating and stuff like that. I think that's supposed to help me understand my powers better, and it has a little, but I'm still pretty confused."

Kim looked down at the ancient book in her boyfriend's lap. She leaned over, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and said, "Let's look them over together then. Two heads are better than one, right?"

Ron grinned. "Yep, especially when one head is Kim Possible's."

He followed her into the house and upstairs to her bedroom, leaving the door partially open to follow the rules set by Mr. Dr. Possible once the two friends had started dating. Ron set the book down on the bed and the two of them sat down and began to peruse the ancient pages. This was the first time Kim had seen the inside of any of the books Raven had loaned Ron. Initially, she'd been a little curious, but kept her distance. The books were intended to help Ron become more in touch with his powers, and she had no need to do the same, so she had never asked to see them. However, now that this book was in her hands, her curiosity grew by the second. Only a few times during her adventures had she handled a book this old, delicate, and unusual.

"Is that…Latin?" Kim asked, stopping on the last line of the third page of the book.

"Oh yeah, I think so. Most of it's in English, though. Well, except the weird symbols in the back. Really should ask Raven about those. I can't decide whether they're instructions for opening a portal to the underworld or a recipe for strawberry cheesecake and I feel like that's an important distinction to make. You know, so we don't end up with evil cheesecake."

Rufus, his little pink body now seated comfortably on the bed, shook his head, squeaking his agreement. Evil cheesecake was not ideal.

"Wait a second, Ron," Kim said, placing her hand over the page and looking her boyfriend in the eyes. "Portal to the underworld? Is that the kind of stuff that's in here?"

"Well…" Ron wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question, and his face revealed his uncertainty quite easily. "I don't think so?"

"You don't sound sure. Ron, what have you been doing?"

"Nothing! I've only ever touched the meditation stuff, I swear," he added, holding up his right hand. Rufus did the same in solidarity. "That's almost everything in the books anyway. If Raven does have books with freaky spells and stuff, she didn't give any of them to me. I just don't understand what all the symbols mean, and I know Raven can do some really weird magic, so there's always the possibility…"

"Okay, I get it," KP said, her tone relaxing slightly as she turned to the next page of the book. "I just wanted to make sure we're not going to start doing any dark magic or whatever in my room. It's probably a bad idea to mess with that, and the last thing I need is to accidentally summon some…I don't know…evil force into my house. I already have the tweebs to deal with, after all."

"Don't worry, KP," Ron assured her. "No evil forces are being summoned today. See this? This is what I'm talking about." He pointed to the title line of the page.

Kim read it aloud, "Reflecting on Views of the Self? Ron, what does that mean?"

"I think it means looking inside and reflecting on the way you see yourself," Ron explained, secretly proud to be the informed one this time. "The point is to recognize your own subconscious weaknesses and strengths and gain a better understanding of your identity and abilities. I was hoping if I tried it, it would help me see what's stopping me from using my powers in a lot of situations."

"Uh-huh," Kim nodded, looking the page over carefully.

Ron flipped to the next exercise. "Here, this is a simpler one. The Emotional Balancing Act. When you follow each step, you identify the emotions you currently feel, or have felt in recent circumstances. Once you identify your emotions, you can figure out how they are influencing your choices and try to balance them out in your mind. You could do it for imaginary scenarios too, but I haven't tried that yet. If my emotions are affecting my powers, then I figured I could use this exercise to work through them."

Kim skimmed the page, not quite sure what to make of it. While her missions had on multiple occasions put her in close contact with the supernatural, Kim Possible had grown up in a very scientific household, and still maintained a healthy amount of her parents' skepticism. "Wouldn't you be able to do the same thing by, like, journaling or something?"

Ron shrugged. "Maybe. But the book seems to know more than I do, so why question it?"

Kim had to concede that Raven was the expert. "Fair enough. Have its methods been working?"

"Sort of. I feel like they'd work better if I had a different mantra."

KP raised an eyebrow. "A different mantra?"

"Yeah. It's those words people say when they meditate, you know?"

"I know what a mantra is, Ron. But what do you mean about needing a better one?"

Ron flipped to the very last page of the book, which featured a list of phrases. At least a couple looked like they were in Latin, but Kim couldn't recognize the languages of the others. "I've been using these generic ones to help me focus, but if you want the words to really connect with you, they have to have meaning. Remember that thing Raven always says? The weird catchphrase?"

Kim thought for a moment, then remembered. "Of course! It's 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos,' right?"

"Right," Ron nodded. "She made that one up because it had meaning to her. I have no idea what it means, but clearly it means something important. That's why, if I really want to unlock and control my powers, I have to find my own mantra."

"So you can be like Raven?"

"Okay, see, when you say it that way, it sounds way weirder than it is."

"It's not weird at all, Ron." Kim placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Raven is a cool, powerful person who knows what she's talking about with this whole meditation thing." She looked down at the book again for a brief moment, then added, "I just hope you're not getting in over your head with all this stuff. I've never seen you this intense about anything, and it's kind of freaky."

Ron laughed. "Is Kim Possible, THE Kim Possible, warning me about getting in too deep? The girl who rescued an ambassador halfway across the world, aced two tests, led cheer practice, went to yearbook committee, finished her homework, and babysat for three hours in a single day? Multiple times?"

Kim sighed and rolled her eyes, smiling slightly at Ron's description of her life. "Ha ha, Ron, you got me. You really do know me too well."

Her boyfriend fist-bumped Rufus beside him. "Fourteen years, baby! Counting Pre-K, of course," he added to clarify his math. "That is fourteen, right? Pre-K, then kindergarten, then…" He started to count on his fingers.

BEEP BEEP BEEP-BEEP

Kim held up her Kimmunicator watch so Ron could see. "What's the sitch, Wade?" she asked.

"Just checking in," the boy genius on the screen said. "Thought I'd update you on some of the aftermath of the Lorwardian attack."

"Go," said Kim.

"Well," Wade began, "I've been getting in touch with as many major cities as possible, and as of last night, all of the ones I've reached have started rebuilding whatever the drones destroyed. Some have already made a ton of progress." He pressed a button and a slideshow of images from around the world appeared on Kim's watch showing construction and cleanup efforts in motion. "More rural areas might need a little more time, but overall, I think we'll be okay. We're lucky we got in touch with the Teen Titans when we did. Cyborg's message reached every member of the honorary Titans network, which is spread out all over the planet. Without their help, the damage would have been ten times worse."

"Booyah, Titans! That's what I'm talking about!" Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah, and get this," Wade continued. "Someone was filming in Jump City while the Teen Titans were fighting the drones. They uploaded the footage to the internet, and it's gone viral. Like, mega viral."

"Really? I haven't seen it yet. What is it?" Kim asked.

"I'm sending it to you right now. Might want to switch to your computer, you're going to want a bigger screen."

Kim hopped off her bed and took a seat at her desk. Ron scooted over to the edge of the bed so he could see. Kim turned on the computer and Wade instantly appeared on the monitor. He clicked a couple keys, then disappeared from the screen, replaced by video footage of drones stomping through Jump City. The camera was shaking and aimed at an awkward angle, but the figure of the drone was clear. As it moved down the street, the camera panned back to see Starfire speeding through the air from an incredible height, her fists outstretched and glowing with starbolts. She hit the top of the drone and triggered a humungous explosion. The camera moved slightly further out of its holder's hiding spot to see the giant drone slowly toppling into the bay below. "Whoa! This is insane!" the cameraman's muffled voice said. As the smoke cleared, Starfire's undamaged shape emerged as she flew over the water to catch Robin, the wind from her movements created waves below. "Dude!" the voice behind the camera said. "No freaking way!" The camera zoomed in closer on Starfire as she carried Robin back to shore, although once it found her face, very little of Robin could be seen. After a couple more seconds, the video ended and Wade reclaimed the screen.

"That video was uploaded three days ago," he explained, "and it already has seven million views. And that's just the most popular one. There are other videos of the fight going around too. Check it out." He divided the screen into three rows and three columns so that he occupied only the bottom left space. Each of the other spaces played a video of Starfire defeating the drone from a different angle. All of them looked awesome.

"Whoa," Ron reacted. "Starfire can kick some robot butt, huh, KP?"

"You can say that again," Kim replied. "But Wade, has Star seen any of these videos? With all those views, she's basically a celebrity."

"I haven't talked to her yet," Wade answered. "Although Cyborg did call me earlier to talk about the communication system, and he said he'd seen at least a couple of the videos. Think it'll go to her head?"

Kim couldn't help laughing at such a ridiculous idea. "Starfire? Please, she's probably the humblest person I know. The girl could blow up a mega asteroid on camera to save all of humanity and still worry people are judging her for being a little different."

"Mm-hm," Ron nodded in agreement. "Although, in fairness, she does drink mustard."

Wade expanded to full screen again to redirect the conversation. "As cool as that footage of Starfire was, I do need to talk to you guys about something else. Remember how the U.N. offered Drakken and Shego awards and official pardons for helping save the world?"

"Yeah," Kim replied. "They deserved it. There's no way could have won without them, as insane as it sounds."

"Right," Wade agreed. "Well, the ceremony was three days ago…"

"And?" asked Ron.

"And they've gone totally off the grid," Wade continued. "I've tried every tracking system I've ever used on them, and neither of them are anywhere to be found. No new lairs, no suspicious activity, no security footage, not even a check-in at Shego's favorite Mediterranean resort. The moment after the ceremony ended, it's like they went completely invisible."

Kim's brow furrowed. "Interesting. They've just been pardoned, so there's not much reason for them to go so deep underground." A lightbulb went off in her bright red head. "Unless…they're taking advantage of the lack of attention and surveillance on them now that they're no longer criminals so they can start working on a new evil plan."

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Wade agreed. "Of course, we can't be sure they're up to something, but the timing is more than a little suspicious."

Ron stroked his chin thoughtfully, remembering past interactions with the evil duo. "Yeah, those two do tend to be up to things pretty often."

"Thanks, Wade," Kim said. "Given the circumstances, it's possible Drakken and Shego just want some space from all the insanity, but if you find anything worth looking into, let me know."

"You got it!"

Wade signed off. Kim turned around in her chair to face her boyfriend. "You know," she said, "that was super weird fighting side by side with Drakken and Shego during the invasion. I'm still not totally over it. Starfire's going to want to hear about it when we see her, though. You remember how much she believed in Shego and all that…what?"

Ron blinked. "What do mean, what?"

"Your face, it's giving me a look."

"Oh!" Ron snapped his fingers in realization. "Sorry, I kind of zoned. I was thinking about those videos of Starfire and they gave me an idea."

"What kind of idea?" Kim knew Ron very well, which meant she also knew that his ideas could range anywhere from unbelievably foolish to surprisingly genius.

Ron scooted off the bed, picked up the book with one hand, and grabbed Kim's arm with the other, pulling her out of the chair. "It's another Mystical Monkey Power thing. I'll explain outside. Come on, KP!" He bolted out of the room, down the stairs, and into the Possible front yard, dragging her behind him.

"Ron, what are we doing out here?" she asked, once they had reached their destination.

Ron looked around for a second, spotted a long stick lying on the ground, and handed it to Kim. "In all those videos," he explained, "Starfire was kicking major space robot butt because of her super powers. I think I remember someone saying that her powers depend on her emotions, which, if my theory about the fight with the Lorwardians is correct, mine do too. See where I'm going here?"

Kim looked down at the stick quizzically. "Not really."

"Okay, let me break it down. Starfire practices physical fighting constantly, and when she fights, she can use her powers no matter who she's saving. Maybe that's it for me too. Maybe I need to get out of my head and just practice accessing my powers in a fight scenario. I've been focusing really hard recently on understanding my powers from the inside, but I've barely tried to use them physically since graduation."

"Hm…makes sense, I guess," Kim replied, although she felt a little uneasy. "Do you want to practice fighting, then?"

"Yes, but not just that." He set the book on the ground and opened it to its halfway point. "This is an exercise I haven't tried yet. You're supposed to take in your surroundings, then blindfold yourself and focus on spatial awareness. The point is to be able to sense things around you that you can't see. I think Mystical Monkey Power is supposed to give you heightened senses…"

"You think?"

"Ninety-nine percent sure. Probably. There are a lot of heightened abilities that are part of it, and I've never actually read a complete, official list. Anyway, this is going to help me tap into that part of my powers."

Kim was starting to follow her boyfriend's train of thought. "So basically, you want to do this exercise to tap into your powers, then have me attack you while you try to fight me off blindfolded."

Ron grinned and gave her two thumbs up. "Exactly! You don't happen to have a blindfold-shaped piece of cloth handy, do you?"

"I mean, I think Uncle Slim left one of his bandanas in the garage, but…" Before she could finish her sentence, Ron was running across the lawn and into the garage. In seconds, he returned with Slim's bandana. "But," she said, continuing her thought once he was back in earshot, "don't you think you should talk to Raven about this? It's her exercise, and if you haven't tried it before, you might not be ready."

"It's called seizing the moment."

"I don't think that's what that phrase means."

"KP, I have monkey kung fu powers, not an English degree." He backed away from her and sat down cross-legged on the grass, then tied the bandana over his eyes. "Now I'm going to meditate until I feel at one with my surroundings. When I stand up, hit me with the stick. And don't go easy on my just because we're dating, I need this."

"Ron, I don't know about…"

"Sh!" he hushed her, placing a finger over his lips. "Do not disturb the meditation!" He then rested his hands on his knees, palms up, and recited one of the generic mantras from the back of Raven's book, "Tempus…Locus…Imperium." He breathed deeply in and out, concentrating on his senses. Kim stood by and watched from a short distance, feeling a bit awkward.

Finally, he stood up slowly and stretched out one arm to each side. "I am one with this space," he said, as if making a grand pronouncement. "I'm ready." Ron bent his legs and posed with his hands in position for battle. "Bring it on!"

Kim leaped toward him, sweeping the stick below her, aiming for his feet. Ron stepped out of the way just in time. She then turned a cartwheel and landed behind him, striking this time at his shoulder. Again, he dodged it, turning around to block her before she could land another attempt. "Ron, you're actually getting it!" Kim exclaimed, both surprised and impressed.

"That's what happens when you've got mad monkey senses, KP!" he replied, backflipping away from her. She lunged toward him again and, this time, succeeded at hitting the inside of his knee, knocking him off his balance. "Whoa…whoa…" He bent backwards into a handstand and tried to kick her away, but ended up springing into the air, landing in a large bush at the edge of the yard. "…ow."

Kim dropped the stick and walked over to the bush. She reached in, pulled him out by the edge of his shirt, and untied the blindfold. "Was that bush anywhere in your spatial awareness?"

"Heh heh…no." He shrugged sheepishly. "I was doing good for a while though, wasn't I?"

Kim sighed and took his hand. "Let's wait on doing any more Mystical Monkey training until after we talk to Raven. Deal?"

Ron looked at his girlfriend and replied with only a small amount of reluctance, "Okay, deal."


	5. Aftermath in Titans Tower

**(A/N: Hey so I know I've been pretty bad about updating this story. Things got busy and I was out of the country for a while. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to come back to it. But guess what? I did! Thanks for all the patience, and here's the next chapter...)**

Raven floated just above her bedroom floor sitting cross-legged, breathing slowly and deeply. Her eyes were closed and her hands rested on her knees with her palms open. Scattered around her were countless thick, ancient books, opened to various different pages. "Azarath metrion zinthos…" she murmured, allowing her mind to find its focus.

Inside her mind, Raven saw a deep, dark void, exactly like the one she had been surrounded by during the recent battle. She concentrated on the space around her, listening for a sound, any sound.

But she heard nothing.

"I know you can hear me," she said to the great emptiness. "You came to me from inside my mind. Where are you?"

Silence.

On the outside, her eyebrows lowered as her brow furrowed intensely. Inside her mind, she raised a fist illuminated with a flash of bright, white light. "Show yourself!" she commanded the darkness.

Her light caught a faint shape in the distance before her. It was barely a silhouette, but enough to grab Raven's attention. She flew toward it. As she came closer, she felt a force weighing her down and slowing her flight. At first it was too faint to identify, but as it grew in strength, she realized that she was sensing a powerful concentration of negative emotion. Specifically, one emotion: anger.

Raven increased her focus to force herself through it until she finally reached the shadowy figure. It was roughly human-shaped, perhaps a foot taller than her. "Who are you?" she asked.

"Family," the figure said, in the same voice as before.

"I heard you the first time," she grimaced. "This is my mind, and no one has permission to stay here except for me. You're going to have to be more specific. Who. Are. You."

"I am no trespasser," the figure responded. "We are connected."

Feelings of wrath swarmed through the air around Raven, almost to the point that she couldn't hear herself think. She shut her eyes tightly to try to block them out. "How?" she demanded.

"We are seven."

The anger in the air around her thickened to the point that she could barely breathe. The negative emotions pressed against her on every side. Raven crouched down and covered her ears, feeling like she might explode under the pressure. "Seven of what?" she asked through clenched teeth.

As much as she tried to fight it, she finally felt the anger seeping into her. Her eyes opened to see the mysterious figure before her. Here was the source of her anger. "I asked you a question!" she yelled. Before the figure could say anything in response, she shouted, "Azarath metrion zinthos!" and released her soul self to attack. It lunged forward…and the figure vanished. Instead of taking hold of her mind's intruder, Raven felt herself falling deep into the void.

"Oof!" Raven landed on the floor of her room with a thud. She took a moment to breathe, then shut the book that had been directly in front of her with a combined look of disappointment and frustration.

She heard a knock at the door. She walked over and, as usual, opened it just enough to reveal half of her face. "What?" she asked, her voice as monotone as ever.

Robin offered a friendly half smile from the other side, although he kept about a foot of distance between himself and the door as a precaution. He knew there were always risks involved in disturbing Raven. "Hey, Raven," he said. "Is this a bad time?"

"Depends," Raven replied. "What is it?"

"Just thought I'd check on you," he explained. "Beast Boy told me what happened during the battle and you've barely left your room since then."

"Right. Because I would normally never spend large amounts of time alone in my room."

Robin crossed his arms. "Raven, you can't hide everything behind sarcasm. You're my teammate and my friend. If you're not okay, I want to know. I can't help you if I don't know what's going on."

Raven turned to look at her books for a moment, then back to Robin. "I'm not sure I know either," she admitted, opening the door to its full width. "Come on in."

Robin stood there for a moment, surprised. As close as his friendship with Raven was, he was rarely allowed into her room so quickly. No one ever was. He figured this meant she was either really in need of help, or too tired to care. Raven gave him a look. "What?" she asked. "Are you waiting for something?"

"No," he shrugged, finally following her inside.

As the door shut behind him, Robin took in his surroundings. It didn't take training from a master detective to notice something was wrong. Raven's normally neatly stacked and shelved books were scattered all over her floor, along with three candles that had recently gone out and at least two unraveled scrolls. The mirror she used as a portal to her mind lay in the middle of the mess, face down. "Raven, what is all this?" he asked, his tone both concerned and demanding an answer.

Raven sat down on the floor and motioned for him to do the same. "There's something wrong with me, Robin," she told him. "Something is in my mind that shouldn't be there, but I can't cast it out, or even identify it."

Robin nodded understandingly. "Beast Boy told me what he saw on the battlefield," he said. "He said he thought something was trying to hurt you, or control you, or both."

"Right…Beast Boy isn't completely wrong. Actually, he's not wrong at all. He just doesn't have the whole picture. I don't have it either," she quickly admitted, "but I have a little more of it than he does, and what I have isn't pretty. It's also really hard to explain."

"All the more reason to tell me," Robin replied.

Raven sighed and looked at the books spread around her. She was rarely one to open up to her teammates voluntarily, but she had relied on Robin the last time she felt hopeless. "Okay. Out on the battlefield, everything went black for a moment, and I heard a voice. It said it knew me, as if it was trying to get my attention. Its presence felt evil and…and full of anger. A lot of anger. I think it was trying to make me angry too, and it did for a moment. I kind of flipped out at Beast Boy…" She looked down sheepishly, then clarified, "but not for a normal or legitimate reason, and I told him I was sorry. I know I get frustrated with him a lot, but I always have a reason, and I never turn on him like I did then. It was like it wasn't me."

"I see," Robin said, nodding understandingly. "Go on."

Raven complied. "Ever since the battle, I've been going through every spell, archive, and piece of lore in my collection for some explanation, but I can't find anything. The only thing I know is that this…thing has the power to manipulate anger, and for some reason it's stuck in my head. I've tried talking to it, but it only says something about us being connected, or this weird 'we are seven' thing."

Robin leaned forward in thought. "Seven…that doesn't mean anything to me. Does it mean something to you?"

"No."

"Uh-huh. Strange. And you don't have any other clues? It hasn't said or done anything else?"

"Well…" she hesitated for moment before explaining, "it did say one other thing during the battle, but it doesn't make any sense."

"What was it?"

"The word 'family.'"

Robin straightened up and his face grew serious. "Your father?" he asked, as memories of the team's fight against Trigon filled his brain.

"Impossible," Raven said immediately and forcefully. "I banished him from this dimension permanently and cast out all power within me that came from him. I've checked every book and scroll on the subject and they all say that there is only one portal through which he can enter this world, and ever since we defeated him, that portal no longer exists. Besides, I know what his presence in my mind feels like, and this doesn't feel like it."

"Hm…I see." Robin picked up the nearest book and started to flip through its first few pages. It didn't make much sense to him, but he tried not to show it. "Want me to take a look at anything? Maybe my detective experience could help…"

"No thanks." The book in Robin's hands suddenly turned black, slammed shut, and levitated its way back to Raven's side. "You're a good friend, Robin, but Batman didn't teach you anything that would help make sense of this. If you want to help me, the best thing you can do is make sure the rest of the team is doing okay. I can try to fight this whatever-it-is off, but if it gets much stronger, I'll have to limit the use of my powers and emotions to avoid being compromised and losing control. That means the rest of the team has to make up for it."

Robin nodded. "I see. You need all of us to be in sync in case you become vulnerable."

"Exactly. And I mean that in every possible way. Mentally, emotionally, physically, whatever. Not that we've ever been that dysfunctional, but it's especially important now. Think you can help with that?"

"Absolutely," Robin affirmed. "I'll talk to the team about it."

"Good. Thanks, Robin."

He stood up to leave and walked toward the door but stopped just before exiting. "This might be a dumb question," he said to her, "but how do you feel about meeting up with Team Possible? We said we'd all see them at Bueno Nacho, but if you're not feeling up to it, you don't have to go."

Raven's face remained emotionless, but her voice betrayed a slight hint of positivity. "I think I'll still go. I haven't seen them in a while. But if I change my mind, I'll let you know."

"Cool."

Robin walked out of the room and the door shut instantly behind him. He headed toward the common room, where he was sure the rest of the team would be. Sure enough, there they were. Beast Boy and Cyborg were lounging by the television watching their recorded Clash of the Planets marathon. Starfire stood in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of mustard and eyeing the screen with a slightly concerned look.

Robin walked over to see her first. "What's up?" he asked.

"That planet should not be purple," she said definitively.

"What?" her boyfriend asked, perplexed.

"That planet would never have the correct soil composition for that color with the combination of native species that it contains," she explained. "It does not make the sense."

"Will you please keep it down with the science?" Cyborg asked from his seat.

Starfire looked confusedly at her teammates. "Is it not the science fiction?"

"Yes, emphasis on fiction," Cyborg said. "Just let us enjoy this, okay? BB's had a rough day."

"Wait, what happened?" Robin asked.

Cyborg hit pause on the remote. "You want to tell them?" he asked the green boy beside him.

"Tara and I broke up," Beast Boy said without looking away from the screen.

Starfire gasped. "Oh, friend Beast Boy, I apologize. Do you require the cheering up?"

"Yeah, man," Robin nodded supportively. "Are you okay?"

"It's fine, dudes," BB told them, although he sounded much more serious than usual. "It was a mutual thing. We were already having issues with being long distance, and then she's about to head off to college, so it didn't make sense to keep it up. Seriously, I'm good."

"Mm-hm. And that's why you ate three tofu pizzas in an hour," Cyborg muttered.

"Dude, I do that, like, every day."

"Yeah, but you normally look happier while you're doing it."

"Cy, do you normally pay this much attention to my face when I'm eating pizza? Because that's a little weird, dude." Realizing how defensive he sounded, Beast Boy returned his attention to the TV. "Can we just keep watching? We missed the marathon because of a certain alien invasion."

Robin looked around at his team and his brow furrowed. This situation was not going to help Raven. "Listen, guys, there's something we need to talk about." He waited for everyone's eyes to be on him before continuing, "I just talked to Raven and she's not in a great place right now."

Beast Boy turned his body to give Robin his full attention. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Is she okay?"

"We don't know," Robin answered. "Something's been trying to get into her head ever since the fight with the Lorwardians, and she's not sure how long she'll have to keep fighting it."

"Perhaps we can assist her," Starfire suggested.

"We can," Robin said, "and she says the best way to do that is to be a united, stable team. That way, if something happens that compromises her powers, she'll know she can rely on us. Hopefully she'll be able to get rid of it on her own, but it would take a lot of pressure off the situation if we helped her out like this. So that means not getting on each other's nerves about little stuff and being as supportive of each other as possible."

"Got it," Cyborg said understandingly. "Anything for Raven."

"Yes, absolutely," Starfire agreed.

"No problem, dude," Beast Boy assured.

"Good," Robin nodded approvingly. "That's all."

Beast Boy and Cyborg returned their attention to the scientifically inaccurate planets on their screen. Robin leaned back against the counter and checked his Titans communicator. His shoulders slumped. Starfire, recognizing disappointment on her boyfriend's face, nudged him. Robin looked at her, then nodded toward the door. She followed him out into the hallway.

"Still no word from Jericho," he said after the doors closed behind them.

"Nothing?" she replied.

"Nothing. I thought it would be a couple days, but it's been almost a week. The communicator network has been fully functioning for a while now. It's like he's gone completely off the grid again. I know he's done that before, but the timing is weird."

"And you are beginning to feel the worry."

"Yes. Exactly. Jericho's always been hard to pin down, but we were in the middle of planning a meeting. He said he had information about the connection between his name and Slade, but he wanted to tell me in person…" Robin paused, then quickly added, "I know how that sounds, but I swear I'm only worried about Jericho right now, not the Slade intel."

Starfire nodded. "I believe you. But recall, he has not sent the signal of distress. Perhaps he has had to relocate due to the destruction of the Lowardians and is not yet ready to have the guests."

"Yeah, maybe. Or he might actually need our help." He looked down at his communicator again, then back to his girlfriend. "I want to go look for him, but I can't leave the team now. We're still not completely finished rebuilding the city. Plus, I don't know how long it would take to find him. If it goes for weeks, I can't expect the team to pick up my slack fighting crime for that long. And even if I could, I can't leave Raven with one less teammate when she's like this. Star, what do you think I should do?"

Starfire thought for a moment. "Perhaps you can send a search party of the honorary Titans to locate him. But you are correct that you must stay here. Raven needs all of us."

"That's a good idea. I'll see who's closest to his last location and try to get a team together." He reopened his communicator and began to search the map on the small circular screen.

Starfire watched him silently for a few seconds, then asked, "And is this the only cause for the stress at this moment?"

Robin stopped what he was doing and looked up. Her question's tone sounded innocent, but the knowing look in her eyes suggested she had something else in mind. "What? Of course. I mean, besides recovering from an alien attack and having a teammate possibly out of commission, yeah."

She crossed her arms and stared at him silently, as if waiting for him to say something else. When no words came, she provided her own. "He has been sending you the messages again, has he not?"

"Who?" Robin asked, trying to sound earnest.

Star didn't fall for it. "You know who: Batman. You left the computer in the evidence room logged into your account the day before last and I saw the messages. I did not read them," she clarified, "but I saw that they were many and that you had not sent the responses. You have had the look of stress on your face for days. Is this the reason?"

Robin sighed. He couldn't hide anything from her. "Yes, it is," he admitted.

"What does he want?"

"He saw all the news about us fighting the aliens. You'd think he'd be congratulating us but no, instead he has to tell me why I should've called the Justice League first, how he would've handled it differently, acting like he knows what's best for my team, on and on, as if I'm still his sidekick. Honestly, I just stopped reading them altogether. I don't need that right now. Or ever."

"Hm…perhaps you should say this to him."

"No, that'll just make it worse. He doesn't take criticism very well. He's done things his way for a long time and he's not used to letting other people call the shots. I'm just going to ignore him until he accepts that I don't follow his orders anymore."

Starfire frowned. "No, you do not," she said. "And you are the good leader for the Titans. But if he is causing the problems for you, do not pretend otherwise. Do not hide it from me, or from the team. You have done that before, and it is not good."

Robin nodded understandingly. "You're right, Star. I know I sometimes do that, and I'm not going to this time. But I also know Batman better than anybody else does, so I'm going to deal with him the way I know works. Besides, I know something he doesn't."

"What?"

Robin smirked. "I know that he's picking on the wrong team leader. That was your day back there, Star. We followed your lead, and you were the only one who could've led us in that moment. You knew things about the enemy that none of us could've ever known on our own. And if he'd been there, Batman could've known those things without you either. Frankly, it's a little ridiculous that he doesn't realize we were all following you, given all the viral videos. You'd think a detective with a super computer would check up on what's happening on the internet once in a while, right?"

At the mention of the videos, Starfire rolled her eyes, blushing slightly. "The videos are the exaggeration and not necessary," she insisted. "I did enjoy the attention for the first days, but at this amount of time, it is without the sense. Some of them even have the edits for entertainment purposes."

"I know. Did you see the one remixed with the Clash of the Planets theme? Pretty cool." He laughed while Starfire groaned. "Come on, Star, I'm kidding. Give it another week. Something else will happen in the world and the internet will move on."

"I suppose," she said with a shrug.

"Speaking of which," he said as he opened his communicator again, "as soon as I send this message to Titans near Jericho's last location, I'm going back in there to watch with Cyborg and Beast Boy. Think you can join us without being too insulted at the lack of accurate science?"

"Hm…" Starfire thought, seriously assessing the situation. "I believe I can overlook the majority of the problems. But only because Raven needs the stable team at this time. However," she added, her tone strong and commanding, "I maintain that this is the reason why one must go to space before writing the television shows in space. Glorbfosters do not live on planets with purple soil, and anyone who has ever exited the Milky Way before would be aware of…sorry," she said, stopping herself short. She took two deep breaths to calm down. "I am finished now, I promise."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes. For Raven."

"For Raven," Robin repeated with a nod. He pressed the send button on his message and closed his communicator. The two of them walked hand-in-hand back into the common room, ready to watch an entertaining, if unscientific, science fiction show.


	6. A Bueno Nacho Reunion

"There's my favorite world-saving couple!" the Bueno Nacho manager greeted Kim and Ron as they entered the automatic door to Go City's Mucho Grande Bueno Nacho.

Kim waved at him. "Thanks, He – I mean…Mr. Go?" She looked to Ron for help.

Ron thought for a moment. "You know, I don't think you ever actually told us your alter ego's name, dude."

Hego, in his mild-mannered fast food manager disguise, replied as we walked toward them, "Mr. Go is fine. It's great to see you both. Thanks for making the trek."

"No big," Kim smiled. "We had to meet the Teen Titans and Go City was the perfect in-between spot. Speaking of which, did you see them come in? Five teenagers wearing superhero uniforms?"

"Oh, I know what they look like," Hego replied. "We've met a couple times regarding Jump City's new Bueno Nacho location, and I've been keeping up with the latest news on Starfire. Did you see that video, by the way?"

"Multiple videos," Kim corrected him, "and yes. They've gone pretty viral."

"Oh believe me, I know," Hego said. "The twins are practically obsessed. Man, that girl can really punch a robot. Anyway, I'll show you where they are." He led Kim and Ron around the salsa parade and pointed to a door with a piñata painted onto it. "We have a room for private parties. You and the Titans deserve it after saving the planet like that. The rest are already inside, so go on in. Oh, and the food's on the house!"

Ron's jaw dropped.

"What?" Hego asked with a shrug. "Heroes help heroes, am I right? This place would be rubble by now if not for you kids. I mean, Team Go certainly did its part," he added, flexing his oversized muscles, "but you're the ones who ended…he's already ordering, isn't he?"

Kim, now standing alone with Hego, nodded, "You really didn't think this through, did you?"

Hego looked over to see Ron checking off every single option at the self-service menu kiosk. "Yeah…I'd better warn the kitchen." He ran back behind the counter to prepare for Ron's anticipated order.

Kim opened the fiesta-themed door and stepped into the private room. "Yo, KP!" Cyborg exclaimed from the nearest seat. "You made it!"

"Hey, Cy!" she greeted him with a fist bump. "Whoa…okay." His metal fist was stronger than she remembered, and she had to shake her hand out before moving on to the next Titan.

"Greetings, friend!" Starfire said, jumping up and squeezing the breath out of Kim before she could say a word. "It is most glorious to see you!"

Once the alien princess had let go, Kim took a couple deep breaths, then replied, "Hey, Star! It's good to see you too!"

Robin got up from his seat beside Starfire and gave Kim a high-five. "Glad you could make it," he said with a smile.

"Hi, Robin!" she said in reply. "You know I wouldn't miss it."

Scooting around to the other side of the table, Kim came next to Beast Boy. "Hey there, Beast Boy! What's up?"

Beast Boy simply shouted, "Bear hug!" and transformed into a large bear, wrapping his furry green arms around Kim before returning to his normal shape. "Where's Ron?" he asked.

"On his way," Kim explained. "Hego told him the food was on the house, so it'll be a while."

BB laughed approvingly. "Haha! Dude, Robin practically had to drag me and Cyborg from the machine."

"I think you mean he 'literally' had to drag you," Raven corrected. Although she had only stood up from her seat beside Beast Boy, her movement had been so silent that it seemed to Kim that she had materialized out of thin air. A very subtle smile broke across the cloaked Titan's face. "Kim, good to see you."

"You too," Kim replied. A little unsure of how to greet Raven, she hesitated for a second, then shrugged and gave her a quick, slightly awkward hug before finding her own seat.

"So," Cyborg said, elbowing Kim gently with is massive metal arm, "how does it feel to be a high school graduate?"

"Oh yes!" Starfire exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "Many congratulations!"

Kim laughed. "It doesn't feel too different yet, to be honest. But then again, I haven't started packing for college yet, or really doing anything. That whole alien invasion thing kept me pretty busy. How's Jump City holding up?"

"It's been in worse shape before," Robin answered. "Rebuilding is going pretty smoothly, and there wasn't a ton of damage once we all got out there."

"Oh yeah, I saw that video of Starfire!" KP remembered. "It looked like you really kicked some butt out there, Star. Have you seen it?"

Starfire blushed modestly. "Indeed I have, but the video only captured a small portion of the fighting. I only kicked some of the butt. Robin fought as my partner, Beast Boy and Raven rescued the civilians, Cyborg fixed the communication problems, not to even speak of the Honorary Titans network…"

Robin interrupted gently, "Starfire, you were awesome. It's okay to take a compliment. You deserve it."

"Dude! What about you guys?" Beast Boy burst into the conversation, waving his arms in the air excitedly. "How did you get yourself kidnapped onto a spaceship? And how did Ron end up teaming up with Shego? And how did you fight them all off? And what was going on with Ron's monkey power thingy? And why were there plants everywhere?" In his excitement, he accidentally transformed into a rooster, crowed loudly, then returned to his normal shape. "Seriously, dude, it all sounds insane."

"It was," Kim replied. "It's a long story, but basically, Drakken kind of tricked a Lorwardian named Warmonga into doing his bidding a while ago. She thought he was this legendary Lorwardian hero and he kind of let her believe it, but then we defeated her and she figured out Drakken was lying, so she apparently held a grudge. I guess when Lorwardians hold grudges, they act on them by taking over planets."

"It is the common reaction," Starfire confirmed.

"Yeah, so anyway, Warmonga and this other Lorwardian guy kidnapped me and Drakken out of revenge. There was this weird beam thingy from space and everything. Totally got me in the middle of my graduation speech too, so that was awkward."

"I'll bet," Cyborg commented, deeply invested in the story. "How did Shego and Ron come into picture?"

"Well, Ron went on the run with my dad," Kim continued. "The drones almost got them, but Ron says Shego showed up and saved them."

The Titans exchanged confused looks.

"Say what now?" asked Cyborg.

"I know, right? Crazy." KP had been similarly surprised when Shego had arrived with Ron to rescue her. "I don't think I told you guys this, but she actually had a moment of being good for, like, half a second earlier this semester. But it was because of this machine called an Attitudinator that also turned all her brothers evil, so I wouldn't give her a ton of credit. But anyway, she and Ron shot themselves into space to save me and Dr. Drakken. And the planet."

"Wonderful!" Starfire exclaimed, her bright eyes wide. "How did you escape?"

Kim continued the story. "The aliens had this laser cannon thingy guarding me and Drakken, but the funny thing is, Drakken had been trying to make this evil plant spray earlier and instead ended up spraying himself, so he had a tiny flower growing on him. It was actually kind of adorable. Turns out, the flower obeys orders from Drakken, so he told it to take out the cannon by crushing it…"

"A flower…crushed the laser cannon?" Cyborg repeated, not sure what to make of that sentence.

"It was a super strong flower," KP clarified, although this did not make it sound any more logical to Cyborg. "So that was about when Shego and Ron boarded the ship. They found us, and together we shut down the system so it crashed to Earth. Then we fought the aliens on the ground, and Drakken sprayed all the drones around us with his plant spray, which made all these plants sprout up and crush them. Honestly, at some point I got knocked out, so it's a little fuzzy, but right when things started looking hopeless, Ron really showed up…monkey style."

"Monkey style?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven raised both her eyebrows, suddenly much more engaged in the story. "He used his powers?"

"Exactly," Kim nodded. "I didn't see all of it – like I said, I was knocked out – but he totally destroyed the aliens and their ship. Then, we called you guys, finished graduating, and Shego and Drakken got a bunch of pardons for being heroes."

"Dang," said Cyborg. "That was a whirlwind."

"And where is Shego now?" Starfire asked.

Kim shrugged. "We don't know. She and Drakken went totally off the grid after the award ceremony. I wouldn't blame them if they just wanted some time out of the spotlight after everything that went down, but I can't shake the feeling that they're up to something. Hopefully they're not."

"Hopefully," Robin agreed.

Hego burst through the door, balancing in one hand a comically oversized tray that carried multiple plates of hot Bueno Nacho meals. "You kiddos ready for some grande sized specials?"

"Man, are you holding twenty plates in one hand?" Cyborg asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hego looked off into the middle distance dramatically. "There is no time or place too mundane for a superhero to lend a hand…"

Kim rolled her eyes. "Hego, everyone in this room except for me is also a superhero. You can chill."

Hego looked across the table to Robin. "What about him?"

"Huh?" Robin and Kim asked at once.

"Sorry," he clarified, shifting the giant tray to his other hand, "but you said you were the only non-superhero in the room. Unless I'm mistaken, neither you nor Robin have heightened abilities or senses typical of a superhero. No offense, of course, just stating the facts. Now, who ordered the vegetarian Mucho Grande Naco Platter with extra sauce?" he asked before Robin had a chance to argue.

"Ooh ooh!" Beast Boy exclaimed, waving his hand in the air as if waiting to be called on. "Me!"

Hego slid a plate to the green teenager. BB transformed into a bloodhound, sniffed the air, then returned to his normal shape, wiping off slobber with his sleeve. "You smell that, Raven? That smells like perfection."

Raven looked over at Beast Boy's mess of a plate, too confused to be disgusted. "Perfect…what exactly?"

"Three unique versions of nacos sitting on top of a plate of nachos, which itself sits on top of a giant tortilla. It's naco-ception, Rae."

Raven had to take a second to process what she'd just heard. "So…there are nachos…wrapped in a taco…sitting on nachos...in another naco?"

"Booyah!" Cyborg said, receiving his own, meat-filled version.

Raven sighed. "You know, I've actually started appreciating some of you guys' fast food choices. I'll even admit that nacos are pretty good. But this, this is just excessive."

"…and one with mustard," Hego said, sliding a yellow-coated Mucho Grande Naco Platter Starfire's direction.

Raven looked across the table at her fellow female Titan, her eyes full of betrayal. "You too? Really?"

Starfire offered a sheepish smile. "Nine stomachs are quite difficult to fill, and it looked like a most interesting concept."

Rae closed her eyes and muttered, "Robin, I swear if you got one too…"

"Don't worry, Raven," Robin assured her as Hego handed him his meal, "I got a completely normal plate of nacos."

After sliding a hablamos salad to Raven, Hego turned as if to leave, then appeared to change his mind to stop by Starfire's seat. "Starfire, isn't it? We met after the incident with my sister, I believe."

"Oh yes!" Starfire exclaimed, remembering the few interactions they'd had. "You are the friend of Kim that assisted us in bringing the Bueno Nacho to Jump City."

"Right," Hego said, straightening his glasses. "I just wanted to say, I saw that video of you saving the day during the invasion. You know, seeing you with your glowing green fists up there almost reminded me of the way my sister used to fight crime. Minus the flying, of course. Good to know she's back on the side of justice, right?"

Kim and Robin exchanged looks. "Well, she's kind of underground at the moment," Kim said. "Hopefully she's up to something good, but we really don't know."

"Hm, I understand," Hego nodded. "Hope is the best thing we've got, I suppose." He looked down at Starfire and bent down to her seated eye level. "You said you have the same powers as my sister, didn't you? Or, that you got them from the same source?"

"Yes, that is what we discovered," Star replied.

"Very interesting," Hego said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "This may be a strange question, but would you like to pay a visit to Go Tower sometime and show Team Go what you can do? After all, you do have the Go Team Glow."

"The what team what?" Beast Boy asked.

Hego repeated himself, "The Go Team Glow. The colored glow my siblings and I have. And apparently your friend here. Or at least she should, if her powers come from the same source as Shego's." He returned his attention to Starfire. "So, what do you say?"

Starfire hesitated. "That is a most kind offer, friend Hego, but you and your siblings are already the superheroes and have been for the long time. I doubt that there is anything I have the ability to show you."

"Well yes, we have," Hego conceded, "but don't think of it as a show. Just come and train with us for a day. It would be especially fun for my two youngest brothers. They've been watching all those videos and you're practically a rock star to them. It would honestly make their day if you stopped by, even just for a minute. How does that sound?"

Star looked from Hego, to Robin, to Raven, and back to Hego. "I…I am not certain. This may not be the good time."

"Of course, I understand," Hego replied. "We heroes always have plenty to do. But if you change your mind, let me know."

Before Hego could say anything more, Ron sauntered into the private room, suddenly wearing a sombrero. "Guys, guess what?" he announced excitedly. "If you break a record for most intense salsa combo, you get a free sombrero!"

"How do you even measure that? And also why?" Kim asked.

"No idea!" Ron pulled up a seat between his girlfriend and Cyborg and leaned back comfortably. "Oh, and Hego, can I order a round of horchatas for the table? Por favor?"

Hego sighed, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger. Kim was right. He was going to regret this. "Coming right up, Stoppable." He left the room to fetch the horchatas.

"Ron, don't you think you should tone it down?" Kim asked him. "Hego's doing you a huge favor right now. We shouldn't take advantage of it."

Ron thought for a bit. "Yeah, we probably shouldn't. It's okay, I only got a double order. I thought about going triple, but was like, nah. At least, not until I finish the first two. Oh, and I also got you that salad you like, even though I still don't understand why. But KP, did you know they have the Mucho Grande Naco Platter here? It's literally naco-ception!"

"Yes, they are three smaller nacos on top of a giant naco," Kim replied.

Ron's eyes were as wide as saucers. "I thought they were still only theoretical, that the world wasn't ready for the science involved. But no! This is groundbreaking stuff. We are witnessing history here, people."

"Yeah, and it tastes even better," Cyborg said, his mouth full of naco.

"Booyah! That's what I'm talking about, Cy!" He gave the half-robot teen a slap on the back, then promptly pulled back his hand, wincing from the impact of the hard surface. "I really should have seen that coming," he said. "But dude, guess what? I said the first booyah in space! I think that about tops every other booyah in our little competition, right?" he added, chuckling as he found his seat.

Cyborg stopped eating and looked at Ron skeptically. "You sure about that?"

"Um, yeah. How many astronauts go around saying 'booyah'? I just made history."

"I'm not arguing about the astronauts," Cyborg clarified. "I'm just not sure if I've already said 'booyah' in space."

Ron sat up straight. "What…you've already been to space?"

"Dude, we've all been to space," Beast Boy answered. "It's been three times, right? Not counting Starfire, obviously, because that wouldn't be fair."

"Indeed, it would not," Starfire agreed.

"Well, let's see," Cy said, remembering the team's past adventures. "There was the time when Starfire went through her transformation and almost got eaten by a weird space spider, so that's one."

"Oh, also that time when Starfire almost married a slug on her home planet," Beast Boy reminded him.

"Right, so that makes two," Cyborg nodded, "and then the third time was when we all got separated on that strange planet where Beast Boy mixed up my parts, Raven got a massage from tiny egg people, and Robin and Star spent the whole time trying to figure out if they were a couple or not because Robin was ridiculously deep in denial."

"That's not exactly how I would have described it," Robin started to correct him. Noticing the look on Starfire's face, he backed down. "Or…maybe I do deserve that."

"I'm sorry," Kim interrupted, very confused and a bit concerned, "but did you say a weird space spider? And marrying a slug? And tiny egg people?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy nodded with no acknowledgement of the strangeness of the situations being listed. "So that makes three."

"Point is, I've probably said 'booyah' in space before," Cyborg summarized to Ron. "Sorry, man. You just have to find another milestone to beat me to."

Ron scratched his head. "You know, that would bug me a lot more if you hadn't just dropped the Starfire-almost-married-a-space-slug bombshell."

Cyborg thought about it for a second. "Understandable," he acknowledged.

"Moving on from that," Robin said, eager to transition the conversation away from his girlfriend's near-marriage to Glgrdsklechh the Sklerch, "what's next for you guys this summer?"

"Just chillin," Ron answered, leaning back in his chair to illustrate. "I mean, we've got to reward ourselves for graduating and saving the world all in one night, right?"

"But also," Kim added, "I'm starting to get packed for college, Ron's working at SmartyMart, and now that we've seen his Mystical Monkey Power at its strongest, we're also looking through Raven's books and trying to figure out how to work with it."

Raven looked up, suddenly much more interested. "Have you found anything that helps?"

"Kinda," Ron replied. "I'm not gonna lie, some of it's pretty weird stuff. No offense! But I did find some introspective exercises that seem to be helping me focus a lot better, so that's a win."

"Definitely," Raven agreed. "It took me years of studying with the monks of Azarath before I could get my powers under control, and I'd had them my whole life. You got yours a few years ago and only just figured out how to unlock their full power. You'll get the hang of it with some time." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Beast Boy's stunned expression. "What?"

"Nothing," BB replied with an innocent smile. "That's just the most positive thing I've heard you say in, like, forever."

Raven felt a pain inside her head. It was like hot, angry energy rushing through her brain and into her face. She clenched her fists in an effort to force it back but it was too late. "What are you saying?" she shouted. "You think I'm too negative? Sorry I can't be sunshine and rainbows all the time like you!" The anger left her and she suddenly became aware of every other teen hero in the room's eyes staring at her. "I…I…" she struggled to return to her usual monotone as she came up with an excuse, "…that was…not…I didn't…I think I have a headache. I'm going to the bathroom." She got up and hurried out of the party room as fast as she could, leaving the door swinging behind her.


End file.
